Enigma
by Dubious Dane
Summary: Everything you knew, everything you thought... It can all be changed by one person. Gene Starwind is a college student. He thinks he's straight. His roommate Fred Luo begs to differ. Now, who is right, and who is wrong? SHOUNEN AI, LANGUAGE Gasp.
1. Hello, and is your sexuality certain?

Author's Note- Some A/U stories are really good. Some are really bad. I'm hoping this one gets into the former category, but knowing my luck, it won't even be considered a runner up for the latter. 

Warning- Yaoi, it's a wonderful thing.

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Outlaw Star characters. Simple as that.

*************

Gene blinked, looking down at his information sheet once more. His dorm room was apparently in this building, but he'd be damned if he could locate it. Scowling, he read over the number again, then looked up to the sign in front of him. Not even close. The scowl deepened. He would have thought that, in an arts college, locating things would be somewhat simple. 

"Need any help?" The voice was young and feminine, not to mention very bright and cheerful. Gene slowly turned to find out who had addressed him, and discovered a rather petite young woman with black hair. "You look lost to me."

"Er, yea, kind of…" Hesitantly, he held out the sheet of paper for the woman to see. She examined it for a moment, then smiled.

"Ah. I see why you're confused. This building has the weirdest numbering system! See, you have to go backwards, so your room is down that hall over there." She pointed, making sure he understood completely where he was supposed to go. "If you need any help with anything, just ask for me. I'm Melfina." Her smile brightened. "I hope you like it here."

"…Thanks." Gene blinked at the retreating figure of Melfina as she dashed off. _Weird. People usually aren't so… nice._ Shaking his head, he began walking towards the hallway she had pointed out, wondering if he was going to need directions for everything here. It wasn't a very appealing thought. 

Finally discovering a door with a number to match the one on his sheet, Gene sighed in relief and turned the handle, letting himself in. A small but cozy room greeted his eyes, already furnished with necessities such as furniture and kitchen appliances. Glancing around, he suffered a brief moment of confusion when discovering that there seemed to be two beds. Also, one had a few suitcases on it. Not to mention a young man. 

"Hm?" Upon hearing the door open, the young man looked up from unpacking. "Oh, hello. You my room mate?" Not feeling very talkative, Gene just nodded. "Do you have a name?"

Now realizing his rudeness, Gene blushed a shade to match his crimson hair. "Gene. Gene Starwind. And you?"

"Fred Luo." The young man stood and stuck out a hand. "Pleased to meet you." Gene eyed it for a second, as if not sure what he was supposed to do. Fred smiled. "I won't bite, you know." Blinking, Gene reached out, shaking the offered hand quickly before letting go and tossing his bags on the empty bed.

Hearing Fred turn back to his unpacking, Gene decided that was a wise thing to do. Reaching down, he unzipped his first suitcase, vaguely trying to remember if he had been told beforehand about having a roommate. He must have; that wasn't just the kind of thing you didn't tell people. Glancing over at his information sheet once again, he scanned through it to specifications about his room. Yes, there it was. "Roommate: Fred Luo". He should have paid more attention.

Feeling a bit boldened, he decided to strike up a conversation. "So, why are you here?" He didn't turn around to hear the answer, the room was small enough that they could hear one another perfectly from opposite corners if they had any reason to.

"My voice, believe it or not." Gene found no reason supporting the not. Judging merely by the few words he had heard, he could tell that Fred must have a wonderful singing voice. "And something or other about me acing Music Theory in high school… ah, who cares. What about you?"

"Guitar. I actually applied with both singing and guitar, but really, my voice isn't anything to shout about." Shoving one last shirt in a dresser drawer, he sighed wistfully. "I'm in a band back home as guitar and vocals, but really, we're going to need a better singer if we're going to get anywhere." He heard Fred chuckling behind him.

"Oh, surely you can't be that bad." Turning, Gene discovered that Fred was sitting on his bed, looking at him. "That's what bands are for, so you don't notice whether the singer has a good voice or not." He grinned, an indication that he had been joking. When Gene didn't respond, he tilted his head to one side slightly, navy blue hair falling over his shoulder. "You know, you're pretty cute."

"What?!" Startled, Gene knocked his suitcase to the floor with a clatter. Blushing slightly, he stooped to pick it up. "Geez, I'm sorry, for a second there I thought you said that I was cu-"

"I did. You are." Fred raised his eyebrows at the incredulous look he was receiving. "What, no one's ever told you that before? That's odd. You'd think someone would have spoken up by now." Seeing Gene's shocked expression remain unchanged, he tilted his head over to the other side. "All right all right, maybe cute is the wrong word. Attractive, maybe? It doesn't sound like I'm talking about a stuffed animal at least."

"What the hell do you mean, attractive?" Gene shook his head to clear it. What the hell was this guy thinking?! Maybe he hadn't had his morning coffee or whatever. Something definitely wasn't clicking properly. "What, are you gay or something?"

"Actually, yes." Fred stood up, carrying one of his bags over to stow it in the closet. "I figured I should let you know, considering we're going to be roommates for God knows how long. It'd be a pretty nasty surprise to wake up to, you know?" Gene remained speechless. "Oh, I get it. You've never had a guy call you attractive before." Fred just shrugged. "Well, hate to break it to you, but you are, and I'm saying it." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I take it you're straight."

"… Well, yea." Gene couldn't quite comprehend what was going on in his mind. He wasn't disturbed by the fact that his roommate was gay, but was a bit unnerved that Fred had displayed in interest in him. 

"Pity."

"Pity?"

"Yes, I was considering making an attempt to seduce you." Fred merely smiled at the look of horror on Gene's face. "Oh, you can calm down. I'll leave you alone if you're sure you're straight. You are sure, aren't you?"

Gene was about to answer in the affirmative, but something made him stop. Something at the back of his mind. A small emotion he had felt when Fred had commented on his looks. It wasn't disgust, it wasn't shock. It didn't have a name, exactly, but it gave him a warm feeling inside. Trying to answer the question, he didn't manage very well. "Er…"

"Oh?" Fred raised his eyebrows. "Hm. Well, still, don't worry. I'm not that bad, I promise." Leaning over, he lightly poked Gene on the nose. "I gave you something to think about, at least. My job here is done."

He walked out of the room, leaving Gene with his mouth hanging open. _Fucking hell, I'm straight, aren't I?_ He looked down and blushed. Apparently something in him thought otherwise. _No no no no, I do NOT find that guy attractive, I don't find ANY guy attractive!_

__

Like hell you don't. Gene scowled at the cynical voice coming from the back of his mind. The problem was, it was telling the truth. _Why the denial? Just because you've always thought of yourself as completely and totally straight doesn't mean that can't change._

"Fuck." Gene shook his head as if to clear it. It didn't work in the slightest. Muttering darkly to himself, he tossed an empty suitcase into the corner of the room. "Fuck fuck fuck."

****************

"Oi! Gene!" The redhead searched for who was calling him. Finally spotting them, he suppressed a sigh. Fred. There was no escaping him. _Ha, like you want to._ Pushing the internal voice down, Gene smiled slightly and picked his way through the crowded lecture hall to the seat Fred was indicating. The young man grinned as Gene sat down. "And here I thought you were avoiding me."

"Mmph." That was the best response Gene could muster. It was better than nothing, at least. 

"Well, you can't be scared of me here, at least." Fred grinned mischievously. "This is a lecture hall, what on earth could I possibly do?" He tilted his head to the side, studying Gene's currently stoic face. "Unless, of course, you wanted me to make a real effort." He chuckled softly as the redhead's skin turned from tan to bright pink in a matter of seconds. "You're so easy to tease, you know that?"

"Let's just say I'm not really used to that kind of teasing." Fred's laughing merely increased in volume. "At least someone finds this funny."

"Incredibly so." Fred's laughing was only quelled when the teacher entered the hall and called for silence. Throughout the whole lecture, Gene kept sneaking glanced at his roommate, wondering if he would stay true to his word. 

He did, doing nothing but listening and occasionally jotting down notes. Gene couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. He tried to pass it off as having to do with being bored and needing something to occupy him, but somehow, telling Fred to piss off didn't seem like it could occupy much time. So much for that excuse. The redhead winced internally. _I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight…_

__

No you're not, no you're not, no you're not. He could almost see the smirk that accompanied his inner voice. 

"Gene? Hello? Earth to Gene." Gene blinked slightly, pushing away the hand that was waving in front of his face. "Oh, so you are still conscious."

"Huh? Of course I am." He turned to look at Fred, who was grinning as he slowly shook his head. After having his hand pushed away, he absently began tugging on his right ear. 

"You could have fooled me. What were you thinking about that had you so absorbed, hm?" _Me, maybe?_ Fred's grin widened at that ludicrous thought. Hey, you never knew your luck. 

"Oh…. Nothing." Gene could feel the blush creeping up towards his face, but managed to hold it down, if only just barely. Fred just laughed. 

"Well, you must be better at singing than you are at lying." People were filing out of the hall all around them, and Fred stood up, holding out a hand to Gene. "Come on, you want to have lunch with me?" He twitched his fingers in a beckoning gesture. 

Gene blinked, then looked down at the offered hand. "…"

"I told you before, I don't bite." 

"Unless I want you to, right?" Fred blinked once, then burst out laughing again.

"Right!" Still chuckling, he twitched his fingers again. "So, yes or no? Not that hard of a question to answer, I'd think." 

Gene weighed the options in his mind. Fred wasn't a bad guy, and he was his roommate, after all. Where was the harm? Nowhere that he could see, that was for sure. "All right." He stood up without taking Fred's hand. The other man looked a bit surprised, but then let his hand drop to his side. 

"So, do you want me to?"

"_What?!_"

Fred nearly fell over in his new fit of laughter. "You're so easy! Really, I'm going to die of laughter being with you!" Grinning, he slung an arm over Gene's shoulder as they walked out together. "Although I'm going to have to stop teasing you eventually, there's no sport in it!"

*****************

Gene was staring at his lunch. And Fred was staring at him. Really, the sandwich was the only thing that seemed to be minding its own business. "Gene, you're spacing out again."

"Huh?" Blinking furiously, the redhead looked up to meet Fred's laughing gaze. "What?"

"Really, you have to be thinking about something, you don't seem like the kind of person who would just drift in and out of reality like that." The smiling young man leaned forward, seemingly forgetting his own lunch. "So, what is it?"

"What's what?"

"What you're thinking about, you dork!" Fred slumped back into his seat, looking exasperated. "Honestly, I think I changed my mind. You're just thick, that's all!"

"Shut up." Somehow, Gene didn't like Fred thinking poorly of him. Of course, he didn't like anyone thinking poorly of him, but he didn't usually care to this extent. His gaze slowly drifted back down to his sandwich before he realized it. "And for your information, I am thinking. And you don't need to know what goes on in my head."

"So? I want to, and that's good enough for me." Gene's head shot up as he gave his roommate a curious look.

"What's that supposed to-"

"Hey!" Someone's shout cut him off, and he scowled. The someone shouted again, and this time the voice was considerably closer. "Hey!" Finally reaching their table, the someone stopped shouting, taking her voice down to a more reasonable level. Glancing over, Gene realized it was the same girl that had given him directions the other day. "Hi again! I just saw you, and came over to say hey."

"Well, believe me, the whole 'hey' concept got across loud and clear." Fred's face and voice were laughing, but his eyes held something that Gene couldn't quite discern. It looked like… jealousy? No, that couldn't be right. Whatever it was, it wasn't noticed by the friendly girl. She just smiled in reply.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even ask for your name yesterday, so I didn't know who to call." Her eyes shut as she tilted her head to the side, smile still on her face. "Sorry for being so rude. What is your name anyway?"

"Gene. Gene Starwind." 

"Well then Gene, I'm glad to have met you! And you are…?" Her eyes open again, she turned her gaze to Fred, who quickly managed to plaster another smile on his face.

"His roommate, Fred Luo. Pleased to meet you." Gene blinked. Why had he added the fact they were roommates…? It wasn't relevant at all… Was it? What, exactly, was he missing?

"The pleasure is mine!" Hearing someone call her name, Melfina turned to look over her shoulder. "Oh, sorry, my friends are calling me. Catch you guys later!" With a cheerful wave, she dashed off as quickly as she had come. 

"That was interesting." Fred's smile was more sincere now. Gene couldn't begin to figure out why. "She must like you to come running through a crowded place like this just to say hi." His eyes darkened at the word 'like'. Perhaps it had been jealousy Gene had seen earlier.

"Guess so." Once again, the redhead found his sandwich tugging his gaze downwards. Really, the thing must have had some sort of mystical power in it. Maybe there was something in ham that scientists hadn't discovered… 

"Fascinating lunch, hm?"

"I told you, I'm thinking." Realizing the trap he was stepping on the fringes of, Gene quickly backed out. "About nothing that you need concern yourself with."

"I told you, it's not a matter of me needing to know, it's a matter of me _wanting_ to know. There's a difference." Reaching out, Fred poked him in the arm. "You can't just sit there and brood without at least giving me a hint, it's not fair."

"Who said life was fair?" Fred just poked him in the arm again. 

"I might have at one point, you never know." A wide grin accompanied the statement. "Now, I'm counting on you to prove me right so I can take the concept before the proper authorities and win my award."

"You're expecting an award?" Gene found that, perhaps, if he played along with this train of thought for a while, he could somehow escape having to come up with a convincing lie.

"Oh yes, a rather nice one." Fred made as if to poke him again, but the redhead moved his arm out of harm's way in time to avoid incident. "Every time someone complains of life being anything but fair, I get a nickel. I'll be rich within a month." The dark-eyed young man was thinking along similar lines as Gene. If he distracted his roommate enough, perhaps he could ask again and get an answer before Gene realized what he was saying. 

"Who's going to be paying you?"

"Oh, well, that I still have to work out." Fred shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not a fool-proof plan, but it's getting there." He wondered vaguely how long he could keep talk on this ludicrous subject going before he keeled over from the sheer insanity of it all. "You haven't taken a bite of your lunch."

"Neither have you." Gene smiled as Fred blinked. The dark-haired young man looked down at his own lunch, clearly realizing the statement was fact. 

"Hm, must have slipped my mind." Without seeming to think about it, Fred grabbed his apple and took a bite out of it. As he chewed, he appeared to be thinking. Swallowing, he smiled. "You still haven't eaten."

"I'm not hungry."

"Oh, I see." A loud grumbling from Gene's own stomach betrayed him, and the young man's face turned a red that very nearly rivaled his hair. "Not hungry. Of course. Can't see why I ever thought otherwise." Fred took another bite of his apple, chewing slowly. Once his mouth had emptied, he heard another growling sound emit from the region of Gene's midsection. "Are you quite certain about that whole 'not hungry' concept?"

Gene scowled. Trust his stomach to rat him out. Defiantly, he snatched up his sandwich and took a large bite. Fred began to laugh as he nearly choked on his mouthful in attempts to swallow it quickly. "I hear inhaling your food is not good for your health." Gene just glared at him, finally managing to get his chunk of sandwich down his throat. "Is eating always this interesting with you?"

"Very funny."

"Really? I wasn't even trying to be." Gene rolled his eyes in reply. 

******************

Author's Note- So? What do you think about it so far? Does the story deserve to be continued, or should I drop it and deny any association between it and myself? Really, I'm not quite sure. 


	2. Even confusion has taken a holiday

Author's Notes- Well… Contrary to all reason, I have continued. (Insert deity here) save us all.

Warning- Whee, yaoi!

Disclaimer- Hm... lesse… *digs around in her pockets* No, nothing involving Outlaw Star seems to be in here, nope… there is, however, a month old movie ticket stub, a crumpled post-it and some lint. I DO own those, so ha!

*************

Gene yawned slightly as he pushed open the door to his shared dorm, running a hand through his messy red hair. Upon entry, he slung his small book bag off his shoulder and tossed it onto the desk, wondering vaguely if there had been anything breakable in the sack that he should have previously considered. Well, if there had been, it was definitely too late to be worrying. Smiling slightly at the sheer drabness of the thought, he all but collapsed onto his bed. 

After a few moments of having his face implanted into the mattress, Gene decided that it would be best if he were able to breathe fresh air once again. Turning his head to the side, he caught sight of Fred, who was sprawled across his own bed, reading. The dark-haired young man seemed to be quite absorbed in his book; so absorbed that he hadn't heard Gene come in and taken the opportunity to tease him. The redhead found himself missing the random comment about his looks or whatever Fred could come up with, and couldn't for the life of him come up with a reason as to why.

Gene realized belatedly that he was staring at Fred. He tried to tear his gaze away, but found that it seemed to be glued to his roommate. With a mental sigh, he just let it go. Fred wouldn't notice, so there were no worries there. The door automatically locked when it was shut, so intruders weren't a problem. Why fight it? So, with slight reluctance, Gene let his blue eyes roam all along Fred's body. 

He was shocked at what he realized when he had the time to actually consider it. Fred was attractive. He had a very, _very_ nice body; slender, but slightly muscled so as not to look skinny. Currently, he was twirling a lock of navy hair around a finger as he stared at the pages of his book, occasionally making a thoughtful 'hm' sound in the back of his throat. Gene tried to see what he was reading, but the book was open flat against the mattress, cover blocked from view. 

With a thought that he didn't much care about the book anyway, Gene let his eyes run back along Fred, looking his roommate up and down once more. It was nice, just to be able to look and think and not be asked questions about it. It gave him a chance to put all of his scrambled thoughts in some kind of order, and also a chance to try and make sense of them. The latter didn't prove to be very successful, but at least he was somewhat closer to figuring it out than he had been previously.

The redhead sighed again, this time audibly. It was soft, so he didn't think it would bring any more attention to him than entering the dorm had. Indeed, it didn't, but unfortunately, a few moments later, Fred decided that he was done with reading for the night. Without moving the rest of his body, he placed a marker in his book, closed it and placed it aside. Feeling eyes on him, he turned to see Gene staring.

Very unfortunately, Gene didn't realize that Fred was done reading until the dark eyes met his own. Much too late to look away and pretend he had been doing something else. A blush started to creep up onto his cheeks, but he managed to hold it off. He could deal with teasing, it would be over in a few minutes anyways, he could take it…

"…Gene?" Fred's voice was soft. He didn't tease in that voice. "Are you ok?" He tilted his head to the side a bit, looking at the redhead with gentle eyes. 

Gene was shocked. That had been a perfect opportunity to tease him, a perfect opportunity! And Fred had… passed it up… And was, instead, being… thoughtful… All right, now he was confused. "Huh? Oh, yea, sure… I was just… thinking."

Fred smiled at him as he sat up. "You seem to be doing that a lot." He stood up slowly, stretching as he did so. "Let me know if you ever want to tell me what you're always thinking about." He began to walk towards the small kitchen of their current abode, but paused along the way, as if considering something. Halfway there, he changed his course, heading for Gene instead. With a gentle smile, he leaned down and gave the redhead a light peck on the cheek before continuing on his original course.

Gene's eyes widened as Fred's lips came into contact with his skin, and stayed that way even after his roommate was out of his sight. Had he just… Of course he had, he could still feel… But why had…? What was… And why the FUCK wasn't he trying to kill Fred for it?! Instead of jumping and yelling like he thought he would, Gene just slowly raised his hand to his cheek, lightly touching his fingers to the place that Fred's lips had been only moments before.

_He kissed me._ Ok, that was obvious. He had covered that. _Why…?_ That, he was having a bit more difficulty with. Of course, there was the obvious reason to why Fred had kissed him, but, unfortunately, the obvious reason didn't make sense. At all. 

That hadn't been a normal kiss; definitely not the kiss of some guy just hitting on someone for fun. That was… it hadn't been…_ It was just on the cheek…_ But still, guys didn't make it common practice to kiss other guys on the cheek. _Well, so what, he's gay._ No, that didn't make sense either. There was no reason, nothing backing up that kiss… Unless…

Gene slowly turned to look at Fred's bed, remembering the look that the young man had worn when he and caught Gene staring. He added that to the kiss. And the lack of teasing. When he worked out the result, it made his head spin. _He doesn't… He can't be… He just likes me, that's all… He can't be…_

He was slightly jerked out of his daze as Fred came back into the room. Not making any move to repeat past actions, he merely gave Gene a cheery goodnight before getting into bed and turning off the lights on his side of the room. Really, the redhead had every intention of going to sleep as well; his classes had run quite late today, but… There were too many thoughts to consider. Too much to think about.

So, instead of turning in, Gene remained up for a while, staring at Fred's sleeping form. He frowned slightly; not out of disappointment or anger, but out of confusion. _He can't… That's stupid. That doesn't just happen. We've only known each other for month or so, it can't be…_

He can't be in love with me.

************

Gene yawned loudly, all thoughts from the previous night temporarily lost from his sleep-clouded thoughts. Blearily, he searched the general vicinity for what could have possibly awoken him from his coma-like slumber. 

_Stupid fucking alarm clock…_

Grumbling, he buried his face in his pillow, willing for the annoying mechanism to turn itself off. Or spontaneously combust. Either was good. Anything that shut it up and let him get back to sleep. 

The infuriating device had the nerve to keep ringing. 

"Grrrgh…" Gene might have been trying to say something, and the words were just muffled by the pillow. He may have been just grumbling incoherently. Even he wasn't quite sure. The only thing that the redhead was sure of was that he wanted more sleep. Oh, and he wanted that damn alarm clock to be run over by a semi-automatic. That would be nice. 

His hand reached out, groping blindly for the alarm clock. He banged his wrist against the edge of his nightstand and cursed. Still not wanting to give in and look up, he continued his blundering search, and the clock's incessant ringing merely seemed to get louder by the second. 

However, before his fingers had even come close to the clock, the alarm abruptly shut off. Confused, Gene merely continued searching the nightstand with his hand. Eventually, his fingers came into contact with another hand. 

"I hope you know that it's highly inconsiderate to set your alarm clock this early when your roommate doesn't have classes for another hour." Fred's voice was sleepy, and his statement was punctuated with a yawn. 

He got a half-hearted grunt in reply. 

Half-expecting another playful scolding, Gene waited. Nothing came. Blinking, he slowly picked his head up from the pillow, peering through half-lidded eyes at his roommate's bed. The lump in it, presumably Fred, didn't appear to be all that awake. An arm was extended from beneath the blankets, a hand still resting on the alarm clock's off-switch. A sleep-clouded dark eye looked out at him from behind a curtain of navy hair. 

"Are you going to let go of my hand?" A blush made a half-hearted attempt to form on the redhead's face, but eventually gave up. On the border of consciousness, embarrassment finds the tread rather slippery. Slowly, Gene's fingers released Fred's hand, and he brought his arm back to rest on his bed. "I wasn't saying you had too, but oh well." This time, Gene was very confused that there was no follow-up. 

"Just that?" Getting up slightly, Gene propped himself up on his elbows. 

"I'm sure I could work up some more if you'd like." Fred's visible eye blinked slowly. "Unfortunately, I'm not quite awake enough to work up things on the spot like that."

"And yet you're awake enough to form complete, coherent sentences." Yawning, the redhead sat up, swinging his legs over the side of his bed. "And sadly enough, I am too now." 

"Your fault for not making sure your schedule didn't have you up at all hours." It was Fred who yawned now. "And damn you for making it keep me up as well." Gene couldn't help but laugh softly at this.

"It's not my fault that you're such a delicate sleeper." Gene ran a hand through his hair. "You could have slept through it if you wanted to."

"Doubtful, considering you had the same idea." Yawning again, Fred pulled his blanket up over his head. "Now, if you don't mind, I will try and regain some lost sleep."

"What if I do mind?"

"Then you can go stick your head in an oven for all I care." 

Slowly getting up, Gene stumbled sleepily over to his roommate's bed, sitting heavily on the edge. "That's pretty inconsiderate too, you know."

"Oh heavens, now I won't be able to sleep for the weight of guilt on my heart." The lump beneath the covers shifted slightly. "But luckily I have an idea with which I can redeem myself." Before Gene could move, Fred had shoved the covers off, sat up, grabbed the redhead, and lay back down, hauling Gene with him. It took him a few seconds to realize exactly where he was after all the confusion. 

"W-what?" This time Gene did blush. Fred's arms were wrapped around his torso, and he was being held tightly against his roommate's chest. He vaguely took into note that Fred was topless, and was remotely grateful that he wore a muscle shirt to bed. All that skin-on-skin contact would have done something quite frightening to his senses, he was sure.

"Now you can't go stick your head in an oven, and my conscience can rest easy." Through the haze of confusion and embarrassment, Gene realized that this could be considered partly his fault for, 1, coming this close to Fred, and then 2, commenting on something he should have responded to with a laugh. He also realized that, after recovering from the initial shock, he wasn't protesting at all. 

At least his body wasn't. His mind was very near spazzing out, and getting closer by the second. However, the rhythmic rising and falling of Fred's chest as he breathed did seem to have a sort of soothing affect… Nevertheless…

"I… I… I have to get ready for… for class…" Gene was not pleased with his voice at all. His pauses sounded like they were caused by pleasure more than embarrassment. He didn't even stop to consider that that might be because they, in fact, were. 

"You can't honestly tell me that you have classes at 6:15 in the morning." Fred's voice was soft, and his breath caused Gene's hair to stir slightly. The redhead thought about this for a moment, although his brain's progress was somewhat impeded by the fact that his face was pressed up against Fred's bare chest. It was true, he didn't have classes for another two and a half hours. Then why on earth had he set his alarm so early…?

"I… set my alarm too early…" 

"Really." Fred sounded amused, if anything. Gene tried to wonder why, but unfortunately, he knew all to well. It's much harder to pretend you don't know something than to pretend you do. That, at least, still confused him slightly. It was good to be confused by something. That in itself confused him even more. 

Gene was too busy trying to work out exactly what it was he was trying to tell himself to make an attempt to pull away from his roommate's embrace. He didn't notice this fact until Fred began to run a hand lightly up and down his back. It was an innocent action, almost absent-minded.

The redhead's tired and confused mind, however, took it as something else entirely. "Hey…" However, due to either his sleepiness or lack of real reason (he was severely hoping it was the former, not the latter), the statement did not carry as much force as he had originally hoped, and it certainly did not get Fred to stop caressing him. He wondered which un-desired affect disappointed him more. 

Soon, he found that it was very difficult to keep his eyes open. His eyelids felt as though they each bore two tons, and he wasn't feeling all that buff at the moment. Despite his most valiant efforts, he was soon drifting off, lulled to a sort of dozing state by the warmth of Fred's body and the hand rubbing his back gently. He could have slept there for another few hours if there was no such thing as brain cells that just refused to shut up, and everyone would have been quite pleased with the outcome. Unfortunately, we all know such things do, in fact, exist. 

So, of course, the rational (and very easily frightened) portion of his mind woke up at this point. It woke up screaming something fierce, and Gene immediately discovered that he was jerking himself away from Fred's embrace. He sat up quickly, breathing heavily, not even realizing that he was sitting on his roommate's legs.

"What… what was that?" He was blushing a nice rose pink now, and his eyes were wide pools of frightened azure. Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult, and he had to tell himself to slow down and take decent-sized breaths instead of the shallow gasping he seemed to be substituting for them.

Fred blinked slowly, looking up at the redhead through eyes filled with sleepy amusement. "What was what?" He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, as if confused. Had he been thinking properly, Gene would have known very well that this was not the case. Unfortunately, thinking properly didn't seem to describe the occurrences in his head at the moment. 

"You… I… You just…" He wasn't breathing properly again, and had to pause momentarily to get himself under control. Inhaling deeply, Gene tried again. "Why did you… You…" Fred raised his eyebrows, patiently waiting for the redhead to finish. Gene discovered that wasn't going to be happening any time soon, and that did nothing to allay his sudden bout of confusion and fear.

Finally, he decided to settle with the original, if rather vague, inquiry. "What was that?" He added a bit more emphasis behind it this time, hoping his point got across. If only he could get his blush to go away…

Unfortunately, Fred's faux innocence was indefatigable. "I really have no idea what you're talking about…" He grinned slightly, straightening the angle of his neck once more. "All right, perhaps I do, but truly, I can't figure out why it has you so flustered."

"Flustered?! Flustered, fuck! I'm more than 'flustered'!" Gene still remained unaware that he remained sitting on Fred's legs. "Why the hell did you do that?!"

His dark-haired roommate merely raised his eyebrows slightly. "Because I wanted to." He blinked once, slowly. "And I thought you might enjoy it as well." His face was impassive, as if he were completely oblivious to Gene's apparent admonition. Also, it gave the redhead no hint as to how to respond properly. "You seemed to be, for a while there anyway."

This time it was Gene who blinked slowly, absorbing this information. Absorbing the fact that he wasn't the only one who had noticed his lingering presence in Fred's warm embrace. Absorbing the fact that he was either going to have to prevaricate about the situation or fess up to something even he wasn't sure of. 

Of course, he chose plan c. Don't answer at all in hopes that he could get away with it.

"Hn." Unfortunately, he foiled his own plan by not moving, but merely crossing his arms over his chest. Fred merely chuckled softly, not looking at all reprehensible or guilty. Really, had Gene expected him to? From what he knew of his roommate, Fred never felt guilty about anything. Especially anything concerning him. 

"Well then, I suppose I was right." Gene's eyes widened. That was a very creative interpretation of his grunt. Although, he hated to admit… it was very accurate as well. However, before he could deny anything, he was somehow kicked, once again, from the control seat. Beneath him, Fred sat up, reaching forward to catch Gene's chin lightly in his hand. Leaning forward, he pressed his lips against the redhead's.

***************

Author's Notes- Phew… sorry to keep you all waiting so long for this… I really should learn not to work on so many things at once… Oh well. Sorry about the abrupt ending as well, but it was either that or wait another week for this to be posted… And it has a nice, dramatic effect, don't you think?


	3. A clever deviation from normal thinking

Author's Notes- Goodness, this story has become far more popular than I had originally thought. I'm so very proud of it.

Disclaimer- Believe me, if I owned Outlaw Star or any of the characters therein, you could tell.

Warning- Yes, shonen-ai, yaoi, that sort of thing. Honestly, I'd think that you would have picked up on it by now.

**************

Gene's eyes widened considerably. Except for the previous night, Fred had never kissed him. And truly, compared to this, the previous night was nothing. He wondered vaguely if they could even be considered remotely similar. However, he didn't focus on that for very long.

Alternatively, he focused on the soft mouth that was currently covering his own. The kiss itself was chaste and innocent enough, but nevertheless, Gene couldn't remember anything that felt near as good. He felt his roommate's arms wrap around his torso, holding him up, as Fred took the redhead's bottom lip between his own, sucking on it gently. 

The redhead wasn't thinking logically. He didn't care about the fact that there was a guy kissing him, or that said guy was his roommate, who was possibly in love with him. At the moment, his body and hormones had taken over the thinking process, and all they cared about was how the kiss felt. Good didn't even begin to describe it. 

However, it soon became imperative to breathe, and Gene pulled away slightly, gasping for air. His face was titled forward slightly, so his forehead rested against Fred's, and his half-lidded eyes were focused on his roommate's lips. His roommate's parted, incredibly soft lips. 

This, of course, is where common sense and fear win the war against desire. Gene's cobalt eyes widened considerable when his mind realized exactly where he was and, more importantly, what he had been doing. 

With a strangled yelp, Gene tried to yank away, only to discover that he was still being held in place by Fred's arms. Reaching down, he disentangled himself from his roommate, realizing also that he still sat on the other man's lap. Hurriedly, he scooted backwards, trying to place as much distance between himself and Fred as he possibly could in as short an amount of time as he could possibly manage. 

Unfortunately, in his haste, Gene merely ended up falling over and tangling himself quite hopelessly in Fred's sheets. His breath was coming in short, ragged gasps, and he began struggling futilely to escape his apparently inextricable bonds. 

Opening eyes he didn't realize that he had squeezed shut, Gene found himself looking up into the amused, confused, and slightly sleepy face of his roommate. 

"Um, Gene, are you ok?" He shut his eyes once more as he saw Fred's hand coming towards his face, but all his roommate did was brush a lock of hair from his forehead. "You're going to give yourself an aneurysm if you keep thrashing around like that." 

"Giving myself an aneurysm is the least of my worries at the moment, ok?!" Gene scowled, trying once again to escape from the tangled sheets. He realized, perhaps rather belatedly, that he was still somewhat on Fred's legs, and this couldn't be at all comfortable for the other man. _Well fuck, like it's comfortable for me either. _ He believed that. He did. 

"Do you need some help?" Well, the answer to that question was obvious enough. It was just the answer Gene was having a bit of trouble with. Or, rather, what the answer would do to his dignity. _Ah hell, I'm tangled up in sheets. My dignity is already crushed beyond repair.. _

"Just a bit. Maybe." He tried to ignore the amused smile Fred gave him as a response. He also tried to remain as absolutely still as possible as his roommate began untangling him from the twisted sheets. However, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Fred's hand rest on his—oddly enough, bare—hip. 

"You're going to have to move a bit Gene, unless you want to go around with a sheet tied around your waist." Pursing his lips slightly to hold back a blush, Gene rolled over slightly, allowing Fred to pull the sheet out from under him. Reaching down (surreptitiously, or so he thought) he yanked his shirt back down to cover his hips, not exactly thinking clearly enough to realize that it would have been much more efficient to pull up his shorts a bit. 

At the moment, he was trying his best to keep his mind away from his shorts in general. Especially what was happening within said shorts. 

This time, he _really_ had to make an effort to fight the blush. 

"Rejoice, for you have been freed from your constraints." Gene couldn't quite manage a scowl in the presence of Fred's wide grin.

"Are you sure you're not majoring in some sort of English class?"

"Last time I checked." The redhead sat up, thankfully without sheets holding him down. Fred continued grinning at him.

"What?"

"Nothing." 

"Your expression begs to differ."

"Well, if you must know…" Fred leaned forward slightly, placing his mouth mere inches away from Gene's ear. The redhead gulped slightly, fighting an urge to pull away which… Wait, there was no urge to pull away. At least not initially. In any event, by the time he had figured that out, it was too late to act upon it. "You look incredibly sexy right now."

"Eh?!" It was amazing. Gene's eyes had widened to at least twice their normal size. "I look WHAT?!" Fred just laughed at him, and this time there was absolutely no fighting the blush whatsoever. It came and settled in on his entire face without stopping to say hello. 

"Well, now, you look like a cherry tomato… Nevertheless, a very sexy cherry tomato…" Gene's head fell back at this, and he stared at the ceiling in denial. 

_I didn't just hear that, Fred didn't just say that, this is all a dream, a figment of my imagination, and…_He blinked. _A dream in which there are really good kisses…_ He shook his head, trying to clear all of the jumbled thoughts and emotions that were currently holding residence there. 

"You're going to hurt your neck doing that." Gene slowly let his head fall forward once more, finally letting his eyes meet those of his roommate. "What?"

"What." Gene scoffed slightly as he repeated the inquiry, nearly rolling his eyes. "You can't not know the answer to that question." Fred tilted his head to the side, ever so slightly, giving Gene a confused look.

"Amazingly enough, I don't. What's the matter?"

"What you just called me."

"What? You are. We've already discussed this." Fred rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, giving an exasperated sigh. "It's called a complimenting observation. You needn't get all touchy about something like that! Honestly."

Well, he couldn't argue on that point. He could, however, find another. "And we also covered that I'm not used to guys telling me that."

"And that means what, exactly?" Gene blinked at this. "That you don't like it? That you want me to stop?" More blinking ensued. "Well?"

"Uh…" Oh yes. Ever so clever and decisive. The redhead could have smacked himself for it. However, it was better than saying what had immediately come to his mind. Oh well, it was going to come out anyway. Now he was stupid along with contradictory. Grand. "Well… not in so many words… What I mean is… um…"

"I see." Fred raised his eyebrows. "So, what you're saying is that you like it, but you don't want to admit it to me or yourself?" His eyebrows rose even further. "Is that what you're trying to get across here?"

"No! I'm…" Gene really didn't know how to finish that denial. Well, he had always been a crappy liar. Now was not the time to prove that fact. Unfortunately… Staying silent would condemn him as well. He was stuck. 

"Yes?" Fred's expression remained one of polite inquiry. "Should I wait for you to continue, or give it up for a lost cause and fill in the blank with the statement of my choosing?" Gene blinked at that. He seemed to be blinking quite a lot, now that he thought about it. "If you don't say anything, I will most certainly choose the latter option."

"…." The redhead lightly bit his lower lip, thinking. He was definitely stuck. "I… I don't know."

Silence once again reigned supreme. Gene was still worrying his lower lip, but Fred only wore a rather thoughtful expression, eyes carefully resting on his roommate. The redhead couldn't look away, and knew that wasn't helping his situation at all. Finally, the taller of the two men began to speak once more. 

"Oh well, it's always best to go with the truth, I suppose." Fred tilted his head to the side. "However, if you don't know…" He leaned closer again. "I think I'll continue acting and speaking as I have been, is that all right with you?" 

"Ummm…"

"I'll take that as a yes." A moment's pause. "By the way, Gene…" The dark-haired young man grinned widely. "Do you have a hand in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" Gene's eyes once again filled the entire top portion of his face.

"No! I mean, it's not that… You see, what happened was that… And then… I… Ummm…" He gulped. There was no denying this, and no way around it. Now he wasn't just stuck. He was screwed. He blushed at the connotation behind that particular choice of wording. He just considered himself insanely lucky that he hadn't said it aloud. 

"Hm?" Fred's grin stayed in place. Placing a hand on Gene's chest, he lightly pushed the redhead onto his back. Leaning over the shorter man, he lowered his eyelids in a sultry manner. "Why Gene, I do believe that I'm getting through to you." 

Leaning down, he placed a kiss on the redhead's lips, chaste but firm. 

Gene gasped, trying to get the proper amount of air to his brain. It was proving to be far more difficult than it should have been; his breath seemed to be caught in his chest. However, that was not the problem that he cared about. The dilemma that had him stuck was the choice he had been presented with: fight the kiss, or just go with it.

Fred had pulled away before Gene had the chance to decide, leaving him to try and convince himself that the disappointment was only from not being able to do anything. Fred merely smiled down at his roommate, eyes narrowed in mirth. "I suppose now you should start getting ready for class, right?"

"I… yea… I should." Although relieved at the easy exit he had been given, Gene was slightly confused. What benefit did Fred have by letting him go…? He had basically told his roommate to leave. Well, not in such harsh terms, but still… Gene was confused. Nevertheless, it saved him from making up a crappy excuse. 

The problem was, a part of him hadn't _wanted_ to make up an excuse, crappy or otherwise. 

"You're… going to have to let me up, though…" Yes, Fred was still holding him down, if only lightly. 

"Hm. I knew there was a downside to this plan." Still smiling, Fred sat back, slowly dragging his hand down the entire length of Gene's chest before he finally pulled it away. Gene felt he should somehow be objecting to the action, but, well… And besides, it was too late now. 

Getting up hurriedly, he nearly tripped over his own feet upon standing up. Refusing to look back and see the amused look he knew Fred was sporting, he continued walking, trying to retain at least a shred of his dignity. It was not meant to be. Before he had taken five steps, he tripped, landing flat on his face. 

Scowling, the redhead looked back, working out a lovely number of curses to use on whatever had caused his abrupt meeting with the ground. His scowl only deepened when he discovered it was his own shirt that he had neglected to put away properly the night before. 

"Are you all right?" Gene chose to ignore the hint of laughter behind the inquiry.

"Fine." Reaching back, he grabbed the shirt and threw it with all his might across the room. Unfortunately, being a shirt, it didn't have much velocity. It fell to the ground less than ten feet from his location. 

"Need any help?" There was definitely laughter there now. 

"No." 

"Want any help, then?" 

Deciding that he could just avoid answering that question altogether, Gene quickly got up and finished his trek to the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him. 

Leaning his head against the door, the redhead inhaled deeply, then let out the breath slowly, trying to calm his nerves. _Crap._ And that was putting it mildly. _Crap crap CRAP. _He wondered vaguely what was worse, the fact that he didn't mind Fred's advances anymore… or the fact that Fred had figured that out. 

Probably the latter, although the matter was up for debate. Especially considering the problem the former was currently presenting. 

Gene looked down. 

_Fuck. _

**************

Gene sighed, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. The professor had been going on for a good half an hour now, and didn't show any sign of letting up. It wouldn't have been so bad if the lecture had dealt with something interesting, or if the professor didn't possess such a monotonous voice… but as it was… 

He wondered vaguely if it actually was possible to die from boredom. 

If it was, then he was currently having a near-death experience. 

_Blah blah blah blah blah…._ Gene squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating on trying to block out the lecture. It couldn't be that important. And besides, even if it was, he valued his sanity far more than a grade on any test spawned from this drab excuse for a class. Sighing, he leaned forward, resting his head in his crossed arms. Luckily, he was seated far to the back, so the professor didn't notice. 

Although, really, half the class so far was sleeping or close to it, so Gene wasn't really afraid of being told off. Opening his eyes again, he tried concentrating on his notebook to tune out the soporific droning. He stared, eyes narrowing to slits. He could do this. It was only a matter of will power. It was possible. He would not die of boredom. He would resist. 

Or he could just start trying to write a new lyric.

Gene shrugged. That would work.

Opening his notebook, he searched for a clean sheet of paper, at the same time trying to find a working pen in his mess of a book bag. Finally discovering a decent pen, he continued flipping through a plethora of loose-leaf paper, hard-pressed to actually find one not covered in doodles, notes, or some other lyrics. He frowned, wondering if it was time to buy some new paper. 

_Ah._ The redhead grinned triumphantly, discovering a clean sheet. Removing the slightly crumpled sheet of paper from his notebook, he smoothed it out on the table, mind running over possible lyric ideas. He wasn't even hearing the professor any more. 

_Done that, done that…_ He tapped his pen lightly against the sheet of paper, thinking. _Geez, is there anything I HAVEN'T done…_ He continued tapping, resting his elbow against the table and his chin in his hand. So much for his brilliant idea. With a sigh, he allowed his thoughts to drift elsewhere.

He wasn't really that surprised on where they ended up. 

Fred. His navy-haired roommate was often on his mind, why should now be any different? He was certainly more interesting to think about than whatever he was receiving a lecture on, that was for sure. So, allowing himself another soft sigh, Gene allowed his thoughts to center solely on Fred. 

He was surprised (however mildly) to realize he didn't mind all that much. 

Gene visualized the taller man, smiling, teasing, just standing. He thought about the things Fred did, tried to understand why he did them. Tried to understand what the hell it was that made him actually appreciate the advances made almost daily now. 

As these thoughts romped merrily through his mind, Gene happened to glance down at the blank sheet of paper in front of him. Slowly, and idea began to form in his mind. It was vague, it was hazy, but it was there. And it was beginning to take a very definite and favorable shape. Smiling slightly, the redhead clicked his pen, setting it to the paper almost immediately. 

__

Why don't I know what to make of you?

Why can't I pin you down?

His smile widened. _Now_ he had an idea for a lyric.

_You're not like anything I've known before_

He tapped his pen against the paper absently, running the three lines through his mind, absently trying to put a decent tune to them while also trying to find a line to finish the verse. He needed a good word for it… something that fit… There was a word that would do, he just had to think of it…

Gene worried his lower lip slightly as he thought, beginning to draw twirly lines on the margins of his paper. Something had to fit, there had to be a word that would go in perfectly… Not secret… Not mysterious… Not cryptic… Not veiled… None of those fit right, it had to be something…

The bell rang, cutting the professor's lecture short, but Gene didn't even hear it. Students all around him began packing up hurriedly, eager to get out of the class before their brains melted. Still, the redhead remained oblivious, eyes still locked on the paper in front of him, mind still trapped in the trap he had made for himself. It was going to drive him insane, and he was not leaving until he had thought of the fourth line for the verse. 

Suddenly, he smiled.

_Enigmatic, yea, that's the way it sounds_

*************

Author's Notes- Ah ha, and so the origin of the title is finally revealed. Yes, I did have this planned from the beginning, it just took some time to implement. Yes, I did write the entire song, but I don't like it all that much, so it won't be posted in it's completion until the final chapter. 


	4. Everything for a few words and a tune

Author's Notes- You know, I could have ended this story very easily on the last chapter… But since I know that would get mobs with torches and pitchforks sent after me, I decided to continue. Aren't you all so lucky.

Disclaimer- Outlaw Star and all of its characters still seem to elude my grasp… Ah, the unfairness of life.

Warning- This is really getting redundant people… Shonen Ai. Yaoi. Got it? Good. 

                                                                                ***************

                Gene held a sheet of paper in his hand as he walked, eyes fixed on the words that ran sloppily across the lines. He'd have to re-write it eventually, if he wanted it to be at legible, but at the moment… He was fine with what he had. He ran through the lines repeatedly in his head, replacing words, moving verses, and generally tweaking what lyrics he had so far.

                Contrary to the usual way of things, he was quite pleased with what he had down. 

                Smiling, the redhead reached out almost absently, sticking his key into the door of his shared dorm. Hearing the rather harsh scratch, he blinked, looked up from his lyric, and cringed upon seeing the lovely scratch he had just put in the door. 

                "That was brilliant…" Still muttering under his breath, Gene took more care this time in inserting the key into the lock and turning it, pushing the door open rather grumpily. He couldn't decide who he was more vexed at: himself for being such an idiot, or the door for not realizing that he clearly had something else on his mind that deserved far more attention than keys and locks. 

                The first was more likely, but the second did have a nice ring to it. Besides, it exonerated him, placing the blame completely on an inanimate object. All things considered, the latter was much more favorable.  Much more insane, yes, but still more favorable. 

                Grumbling quietly, Gene returned his attention to the lyrics, shoving the key into his pocket and kicking the offending door shut quite violently. Truly, this was just not a very good day for the door. 

                "What did the door ever do to you?" Gene blinked, attention jerked from his lyric once again. Glancing up, he spotted Fred, who he hadn't noticed before. The navy-haired young man was lounging on his bed, book in hand. The book was closed, but he was holding a place with his finger.

                "It had the gall to annoy me." 

                "Ah. I see. And so it has rightly suffered for this atrocious offence."

                "Yup."

                "Ok, just so long as justice is being served…" Fred went back to his book, but not before shooting a cheerful grin at his roommate. Gene couldn't help but laugh.  However, soon his mind was back on his lyrics. It stood to reason, considering the inspiration behind them was sitting less than ten feet away. 

                Gene tossed his book-bag on his nightstand casually, plopping down on his own bed rather gracelessly. Lying back, he held the sheet of paper above his head, reading over it for the hundredth time. Reaching over to his previously discarded book-bag, the redhead rummaged around until he found a pen, clicking it open and making a correction on his—now quite messy—lyric sheet. 

                Seeing if the words flowed a bit better, Gene wondered idly what would happen if he asked for Fred's advice. Would he ask who the song was about…? Possibly. Would he figure it out himself? More than likely. 

                In any event, Gene needed to finish the thing before he did anything else with it. At least that seemed like a safe enough goal. 

                Adding another line and scratching it out quickly, Gene hummed softly, trying to put a tune to the words. He didn't really expect to get anything, but it was worth a try. Besides, it kept him occupied. He cleverly avoided remembering that his time could be better filled with schoolwork and the like. 

                "What're you writing?" Fred, it seemed, had finished with his book for the moment. Gene looked over, discovering that his roommate was watching at him, eyes half-lidded. It was unclear as to whether the look was caused by tiredness or a seduction attempt. Gene decided to give Fred the benefit of the doubt and go with the former. But really, who was he kidding?

                "Just a lyric." 

                "What about?" The navy haired young man leaned back onto his elbows, eyes still on Gene.

                "Just the usual." Shrugging slightly, Gene reached up to replace another word, creating yet another scratch on his already scribble-filled paper. It was going to become truly illegible soon, even for him. He'd have to find a new sheet. 

                "Oh, poorly written woes of love?" Fred grinned.

                "No." The redhead made a face. "Definitely no. Very nicely written words of… well, I don't know, but not woes of love." _More like confusions._ But he wasn't going to say _that._

                "So not the usual, then." Fred's lazy grin was still in place, and his eyes continued resting on Gene. It wasn't as though a change had been expected, really. 

                "Depends on your definition of usual." Gene scratched out one line completely, quickly replacing it with one whose variations, however slight, flowed infinitely better. "Mine, apparently, differs from yours." 

                "Apparently." Getting up slowly, Fred stretched in a leisurely fashion, arching his back as far as it would possible go. Gene made the fatal error of glancing up just as his roommate's shirt slide up over his lightly toned abdomen, and, despite his most valiant efforts, he couldn't help but stare. 

                Fred's grin only grew. 

                "Did you have any plans for dinner tonight?" 

                "Huh…?" Gene blinked quickly, trying to bring his attention back to current events. Well… current events that didn't involve a severely distracting expanse of newly exposed skin, anyway. It took quite a bit of willpower. "Dinner…?"

                "Yes, dinner. You know… One of the main meals of the day? You eat it around 6-ish? After lunch? Before dessert?" Though he knew very well what was distracting the redhead, Fred purposely did not come out of his stretch, continuing to grin as Gene fought to tear his eyes away. This was so much fun!

                Finally, though not nearly soon enough to save his dignity, Gene managed to tear his eyes away, forcing down the blush as he tilted his head back slightly to meet Fred's eyes. "I know." He tried to make the statement as cold as possible, but it didn't really have the same effect as he had hoped. Possibly because the blush was threatening to surface at any minute, and most of his concentration was focused on that. 

                "Well?" The navy-haired young man raised his eyebrows, slowly standing upright once more, letting his shirt fall down once more to cover his stomach. Gene gave him a blank look. "Plans? Yay or nay?"

                "Oh. No. Not that I'm aware." It was now that Gene remembered the sheet of paper in his hand. Or, rather, what _had_ been a sheet of paper. Now, it more or less resembled a crumbled ball of something that might have, at one point, been of the paper-ish persuasion. "Fuck."

                "What?" Fred glanced down at what his roommate was staring at. "Oh. Dear." He tilted his head to the side slightly as Gene slowly attempted to straighten out the paper, apparently determined to salvage the thing. "Is it ruined completely?" 

                "If it is, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to spend the rest of the night beating my head against a wall…" The redhead frowned slightly in concentration, dead-set on not harming the paper any more than it already had been. Gently, he spread it out on top of his bed, taking great care not to smudge the writing further. Running his eyes over the words quickly, he sighed in relief. The lyrics were still there. Barely discernable, but there nonetheless. 

                "Wonderful, your skull has been saved." Gene jumped slightly at the voice in his ear, though he at least knew better than to turn around. He wasted a good minute wondering how the hell Fred had suddenly appeared behind him, then abruptly came to the conclusion that he had been far too engrossed in saving his lyric. He glared at it for causing such troubles. It didn't appear fazed; rather, it seemed to glare right back, insinuating that it was his fault in the first place, considering he was the one who had crumpled it. 

                Gene scowled. When had he done that? No, no, the paper itself had spontaneously crumpled. That was it. 

                He believed this for all of fifteen seconds.

                Then he remembered how his hands had automatically clenched the sheets when he had seen half of Fred's naked torso. And how the sheet of paper had had the great misfortune to be located between his right hand and the bedclothes. 

                And, of course, it was then that he realized, rather belatedly, that Fred was now resting his chin against Gene's shoulder, and, in general, being far closer than was truly necessary. The redhead bit his bottom lip as he felt his roommate's warm breath on his neck. 

                "Hmmmm…." Gene could feel his hair move as Fred exhaled. "I would have thought you'd be screaming by now, or something equally unpleasant…" Gene didn't even have to look to know that his roommate was grinning. "What a nice surprise."

                The red-haired young man swallowed almost audibly, wondering how, exactly, it was that his body was refusing to do anything he told it. Run fast and far in the opposite direction, for example. Jerk. Draw back. Push Fred away. Anything along those lines, he wasn't picky! And yet…nothing. 

Instead, his eyes had the nerve to glance down at his (now rather soiled) sheet of lyrics. _"You're not like anything I've ever known before…"_

_Fuck._

"Oh, yes." It appeared that Fred wasn't going to be moving any time in the immediate future. Gene couldn't bring himself to push the other man away. "I'm making dinner, if that's all right with you."

"…You can cook?" It seemed safe. Perhaps it would have been more so if Gene had managed to skip the breathless pause that had preceded it. "I didn't know that." That probably didn't help much, but it gave Gene something to think about other than the close proximity of his roommate. For the moment, anyway. 

"Mmhmm…" Fred let the affirmative reply drift into silence. Gene was foolish enough to think that he would truly leave it there. "I can do a great many things you don't know about." 

The redhead's azure eyes widened considerably. He most certainly did _not_ need the mental images that statement led to… He sputtered slightly as he realized that his lower body disagreed vehemently. 

Fred laughed softly, turning his head slightly to kiss the sensitive skin behind Gene's ear. He smirked as he felt his roommate tense up, and stuck out his tongue, slowly moving to trace the delicately curved shell of Gene's ear. 

The red-haired young man's eyes widened even further at this. _What_ did Fred _think_ he was doing? What the _hell_ did hethink he was doing? What…the… hell… Gene's thought slowly trailed off as his earlobe was taken between his roommate's lips and sucked on gently. His eyelids, instead of defying all laws of physics and attempting to open further, drooped slightly in pleasure.

_This is…Wait, no!_ This wasn't right, he couldn't actually be enjoying this! He didn't like guys, he didn't think this felt _insanely_ good, he didn't… didn't… Fred slid a hand up Gene's shirt to toy with one of the redhead's nipples, and Gene quite forgot what, exactly, it was that the next 'didn't' was supposed to be. Really, he quite forgot a lot of things, and it was very lucky that he had let go of his precious sheet of lyrics, otherwise it would have been quite ruined indeed. 

Fred couldn't help but grin as he slowly dragged his teeth down over Gene's earlobe, causing the redhead to make a mewling noise in the back of his throat. Goodness, and he had thought that teasing his new love interest with a cleverly exposed bit of skin was fun. Oh no, this was _far_ better. Far more enjoyable for both parties, certainly. 

Sitting back, Fred pulled Gene into his lap, wrapping his free arm around the other man's waist to hold him in place. Gene whimpered softly as his roommate's hand danced across his chest. 

_This… can't be good…_The redhead's eyes fell completely closed. _I'm quite certain… that… I… shouldn't be… enjoying this… _Gene felt Fred's tongue on his neck and came very close to losing whatever amount of resolve he had managed to hang on to thus far. _No… I can't… _

Mind winning over in the end, Gene finally came out of his daze, jerking out of Fred's loose hold and nearly falling off of the bed in his (overly) zealous escape. Gasping for breath, the redhead quickly hauled himself to the opposite end of the bed, stopping only when the wall prevented him from moving further. Half-expecting his roommate to pounce on him, Gene turned slowly, ready to bolt immediately, should the need present itself. 

However, he was prepared in vain. Fred was still in the same spot Gene had left him, lounging on the mattress in a leisurely manner with a rather satisfied smirk on his face. The blue-eyed young man stared, breath still coming in deep gasps. _What the HELL was that?!_ The statement was supposed to have come out as a rather earsplitting exclamation, but somehow it had become lost on the way to his throat. Probably all of that rapid air intake. Yes, that was it. Of course. Without a doubt. 

"Nuh…" Well, that was something. A pathetic, incomprehensible something, but a something nonetheless. Gene swallowed (almost audibly) and tried again. "That…" Ok, now he was breaking into intelligible words, this was a good sign. " That…" Repeating said intelligible words, but at least he wasn't babbling incoherently. So to speak. "That was…" 

"That was what?" Fred's smirk didn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Gene felt the urge to wipe it off of his roommate's face. He blanched as ways of doing that wandered into his mind. Complete with visual aids. "That was…?" The navy-haired young man held out a hand, gesturing for Gene to continue. 

_Oh, sure, like I'm going to voice some of the things that are going through my mind _now_…_ The redhead gave himself a quick mental shake, trying to regain some sense. It wasn't as successful as he had hoped. He tried a mental kick. "Inappropriate." There, that was good, stay on that track… "Wrong." Very good. Keep going, you can do it… Gene blinked. He was out of derogatory adjectives. _Damnit__, I can't stop now…_ "Upsetting."

"Was it really…?" Fred slowly raised his eyebrows, smirk leaving his lips. Gene bit his lower lip lightly. "Do you really think that…?" The young man was beginning to look hurt, even though Gene could tell he was trying to keep the emotion from reaching his features. 

_No… _Yes. _No._ Yes. _NO!_ The redhead continued to worry his lower lip as the debate raged in his head. He stared fixedly at the bed coverings in front of him, not able to face his roommate after lying so blatantly and hurtfully to his face. _Lying…?_ _Yes._ He didn't notice the bed move. He didn't hear the footsteps retreating from his location. He didn't hear the kitchen door open, then shut. 

Slowly, Gene's gaze roved over the rest of the bed, and he was mildly surprised at finding a crumpled sheet of paper sitting beside him. He picked up the lyric, so quickly forgotten, and stared morosely at the words. 

You're not like anything I've known before… 

He set the paper down, no longer really seeing the paper. This wasn't right. Why had he said those things? He hadn't meant them… he'd just been… _A coward._ Gene sighed. Yes, that was it. Cowardice. And denial. Definitely denial in there somewhere. 

Now what was he supposed to do?

_Three guesses, dumb ass. _Gene scowled at his inner voice. _And the first two don't count._

It was true, though. He knew exactly what he should do. What he had to do. What he wanted to do, on some level. But the problem was… actually doing it. 

_Fuck fuck__ FUCK. _ 

Gene crossed his legs, resting his elbows on the mattress in front of him and resting his face in his hands. _Why did I do that…_ He scowled. _Because I'm straight…__ I'm straight, I do _not_ like other guys. I don't. And I most certainly don't like… most certainly don't… I quite assuredly… I mean, there's no way I could like…_ The thought kept trailing off. The redhead just couldn't seem to finish it. _I couldn't…_

_But I do. _He sighed deeply. _I do. Very much so. Quite assuredly. Most certainly. _

_Fuck. _

Slowly, Gene removed his face from his hands, blearily staring at the kitchen door, which some part of his mind knew Fred was on the other side of. Which some part of his mind knew he had to go through. Soon. He wondered where the other part of his mind had gone. The one that usually screamed every time it saw Fred. 

_… I wouldn't be surprised if it had recently died from a nosebleed. _Gene placed his hands behind him, leaning back as he continued to stare at the door. He _knew_ what he had to do. Why did it have to be so hard…?

_It doesn't have to be. _The redhead blinked. _You just seem to delight in making things difficult for yourself. _This time, he scowled. _Now get your cowardly ass in there and do it. _

Gene inhaled deeply. He had gotten himself into this. He had to get himself out. He needed to get himself out. He… _wanted_ to get himself out. Letting out the breath, the young man stood. His eyes remained locked on the cheap wood of the kitchen door, which seemed to be daring him to come forward. Well, he would just have to meet that dare, and meet it well. 

Features working themselves into a determined frown, Gene stepped forward.

                                                                **************

Author's Notes-  Dearie me, I'm so cruel to you people… Though really, I've never had a cliffhanger, this is a new experience for me… Goodness. And remember, threatening to murder the author in her sleep (or at any other time) only forces her write from a secure location, from which it often takes much longer to produce a decent chapter. 


	5. The quickest way to a man's heart

Author's Notes- Goodness gracious me, how cruel I was last chapter! Such a cliffhanger! Well, for me, anyway. In any event, I couldn't just leave you there, could I? Well, at least, not with a guiltless conscience. And besides, this story has grown on me. I'm rather interested to see how it turns out. So, without (much) further ado, I give you chapter number five.

Disclaimer- Alas, I am not the sole owner of Outlaw Star. Not even a partial owner. As a matter of fact… I truly own nothing Outlaw Star related. How very sad for me… Would anyone care to donate?

Warning- … If you haven't caught on by now, you've either been skipping chapters (which is a no-no) or you're so thick that another warning will do nothing for you. Either way, you don't deserve to be helped.

                Gene stared at the doorknob. It didn't look all that threatening, truly. He reached out for the inanimate object slowly, as if expecting it to leap out of the wood and bite him at any second. However, soon his fingers were safely around the cheap brass, and it was still as stationary as ever. No sharp edges to be found, and quite assuredly nothing resembling jaws.

                The redhead wondered momentarily if he was going insane.

                He gulped, almost audibly (he had to look into that; there had to be _something_ wrong with his throat, considering all of this noisy swallowing), as his fingers tightened around the doorknob. He had to do this. There was no turning back now. He was going through this door, and he was going to apologize. Yes, he was. Most definitely. Without a doubt.

 His fingers didn't move.

Gene glared. This was not the time to chicken out. The time to chicken out was long gone, and it was entirely too late to be re-considering now. He gripped the doorknob as if it were a lifeline. He would go through with this. He had to. He needed to. He wanted to.

Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, he began to twist the knob. Gene found that, even if he tried to speed up the insanely sluggish action, the pace would not be rushed. Nor could he pull away. He was forced, by some small part in the back of his mind, to go through with this, but at the same time, by another small part somewhere else in his mind, he was forced to torture himself.

_Why the hell did I have to say that in the first place…_ Azure eyes narrowed, shooting the doorknob a glare that certainly would have withered a lesser household object. _It wasn't even the truth. Damnit._

He paused, though his hand remained on its slow trek. The doorknob continued to turn at a snail's pace as Gene turned that last thought over in his mind. It was true. He had outright lied to Fred. Why the _hell_ had he done that?!

_Because you're a coward._ The redhead scowled, shoving the thought to the back of his mind. He'd deal with it later. Right now, there were more important things to focus on besides berating himself. There would be plenty of time for that after he apologized to Fred.

Speaking of which…

The latch clicked, and the door started to swing forward. With Gene still attached.

Flailing slightly to keep his balance, Gene finally released the accursed doorknob, looking into the kitchen with a certain amount of apprehension. He didn't know what to expect… would Fred be angry? Sad? Would he have to worry about cutlery, or tears?

                Before the redhead could quite decide, he was greeted with reality. Reality quickly gave his over-active imagination a slap to the head before going about its business.

                Fred was standing in front of the stove, cooking. Gene blinked once before remembering what his roommate had said earlier, about dinner. It seemed he hadn't been joking. _No real reason to think he was._ But still… Was he all right? Had he not been hurt by Gene's verbal barrage at all? Had it been an act?

                Pushing these dark musings aside, the redhead took a step forward. Fred stopped what he had been doing, and turned his head toward the sound Gene's foot had made on the linoleum of the kitchen floor. "Oh, Gene…" His gaze quickly returned to the pan on the stove. "I started dinner."

                "Fred…" It hadn't been an act. Gene could practically feel the pain oozing out of the other man, and had most certainly heard it in the few words he had spoken. He couldn't quite understand why, but… He didn't want Fred to be hurt. He wanted to make the pain go away, and damnit, that's what he was going to do.

                The part of his mind that seemed so dead-set against anything involving Fred was being uncharacteristically silent. Gene had a sneaking suspicion that it had been somehow mutilated—if not completely and totally eliminated—by the other part of his mind. He was somewhat glad. At least now he didn't have arguments in his head to worry about. He really didn't want to add schizophrenia to his list of problems.

                "Hm...?" In truth, Fred didn't sound all that interested in getting an answer to his mild inquiry at Gene's pause. In truth, it sounded as though he would much rather be far, far away. Now, of course, this was all based on the redhead's interpretation of his roommate's tone, but he was pretty sure that his thoughts were very close to hitting home, and if not, at least giving it a very firm tap.

                The problem was, he had to think up something really, really good to complete his apology with. Something that would counteract his previous lie. Something that… something that would somehow remove Fred from this sudden depression. Gene shifted slightly. He had never seen his dark-haired roommate like this before. It unnerved him. It unnerved him even more to think that it was his fault.

                _So fix it. _

Gene began thinking about the cutlery again, but ultimately decided that it would be very hard to apologize to Fred while also trying to stab his inner voice with a cleaver. Especially considering a cleaver wasn't exactly something you'd want to stab with. No, for stabbing, he'd probably use the ice pick…

_You're going off on a tangent, nimrod. _

There was a mental pause. Gene wondered at his inner voice's insult of choice.

_And wasting time._

A scraping sound from the stove managed to pull Gene from his reverie. Fred was scraping the bottom of the pan to get the dinner (which, apparently, was chicken teriyaki) to cook in a more even fashion.

_I… I don't know what to say…_ Well, that was his fault, wasn't it? It was hard to go back on such a blatant lie that someone had so readily believed. And why? Well, that was his fault as well. The hole just got deeper and deeper. And someone was always throwing him a bigger shovel.

_Then don't say anything. _

The idea had merit.

Giving a quick mental nod of encouragement (presumably to himself) Gene hesitantly reached out, placing a hand lightly on Fred's shoulder. The navy-haired young man paused his culinary works, his body freezing almost completely. _Well, this is a change…_ Gene's thoughts were practically dripping with bitter humor. _For once, _I'm _the one shocking _him. _Huh._

The redhead tightened his grip on Fred's shoulder gently, slowly turning the other man around to face him. His roommate's face was a veritable plethora of emotions; shock, hope, fear, confusion, and even a very small amount of joy. Well, that was to be expected… It was quite the miracle the Gene had gotten this far. He made a mental note to give thanks to whatever deity might be listening later if this all worked out well.

"…Yes?" Fred's voice was soft, hesitant. Almost as if he was afraid speaking would somehow ruin everything.  Oddly enough, Gene felt exactly the same way. He, however, wasn't brave enough to make use of his vocal chords. He admired his roommate's courage. He'd have to mention it later. But now…

Actions spoke louder than words, didn't they?

Inhaling deeply, Gene made his move.

Slowly, he leaned forward, planting a sweet, chaste kiss on Fred's lips.

The meeting of mouths was short, and the redhead pulled away before either of them could quite comprehend what exactly it was that was happening. However, he had done it, and although it took a moment or two, Fred knew precisely what it was that had occurred.

"I…" Gene dropped his gaze after their lips parted, finding himself unable to meet the other man's eyes. "I didn't mean it." He stared at the ground, for once ignoring anything but his own shame at what he had done. "I don't know why I said it… but I didn't mean it."

The redhead felt cool fingers wrapping around his own, lightly holding his hand in place on Fred's shoulder. He blinked, confused, then looked up to see what was going on. 

You could have lit up a city with Fred's smile. Or at least a large town.

Gene eyes widened slightly, and he suddenly found himself beginning to melt in the heat of that smile. To think that he had been the cause of it… _No need to get sappy._ His inner voice was laughing at him, _laughing_ at him! But still… It was a good feeling, to know that he had fixed what he had so openly prevaricated about.

"Really?" It took him a moment to realize that Fred had said something, and another moment to realize what that something had been.

"Really."

The navy-haired young man's smile widened, his eyes narrowing slightly in his mirth.

"I'm glad."

Gene stared at his dinner, using his fork to push it slowly around his plate. It wasn't that the food wasn't good… It was just that his appetite wasn't really making loud demands at the moment. He mixed pieces of chicken and vegetables with his rice, then separated them out again absently, not even seeing the edibles anymore.

"Gene?" The voice was soft, but it still managed to give the redhead a small jerk as he abandoned his mild reverie for the real world. Fred smiled as a faint blush colored his roommate's cheeks, wondering what it was that he had been thinking about. "You're not eating."

"Oh. Right." Gene quickly shoveled a few forkfuls into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. His apology earlier had fixed things, he knew that. However, he didn't know exactly what Fred had gotten from it, besides relief. Did he think that Gene wanted things to go further? That he appreciated the dark-haired man's advances?  Did he in the first place?

It might have helped if Gene himself knew the answer to that question. He kind of missed the little arguments in his head; they kept the major cogitation at bay. Now, he was stuck working things out on his own. It was harder than he had thought.

"Is it good?" He really needed to stop with those inner monologues while people were around.

"Oh, yea. Really good." Silence reigned for a few moments, but it wasn't all that uncomfortable. Indeed, a permanent grin had seemed to settle onto Fred's face, and one could just imagine happy little hearts floating above his head. If one was prone to that kind of thinking, that is.

"Ah, so you like my cooking!" Fred rested his chin in his hand, looking at Gene through half-lidded eyes. "I'm flattered." The redhead risked a quick glance up at his roommate, but immediately regretted it. He couldn't bring himself to repeat some of the thoughts that had gone through his mind; indeed, the very hint of such ideas made the tips of his ears go pink.

_O-k, now things are getting odd._ Gene took another bite of his dinner, trying to distract himself. _I don't want to hurt him, but I don't really want to get deeply involved…_ He risked another glance up, and found that Fred had also gone back to his meal, giving the redhead a chance to study the other man.

_… Do I?_

Shaking his head (in what he considered to be a very surreptitious manner), Gene returned to eating, making a very valiant effort to clear his mind of any and all thoughts that didn't concern food.

Unfortunately, food didn't prove to be all that interesting. Even that one piece of chicken that kind of resembled Lenny Kravitz on a bad hair day. Gene pointedly avoided said piece of meat, shoving it to the side of his plate. Now he had to focus on _not _thinking about food…

The clock ticked, slowly counting out the seconds in a monotonous and repetitive series of ticks and tocks, pendulum swinging back and forth in perfect sync with the hollow noises. The rustic, almost lulling sound permeated throughout the room, giving it a milieu similar to that of a quiet and peaceful lodge nestled somewhere among snow-crusted mountains.

Gene wondered why the hell he hadn't just gone out and invested in a nice, silent digital model.

"I'm sure the clock did nothing to deserve such a look, Gene." The redhead blinked once, and turned to see his roommate grinning at him from the other side of his bed. His fingers instinctively gripped the bed-sheets in quite a violent manner as Gene realized that Fred _always_ seemed to misplace his shirt before bed. 

The clock ticked at least fifteen more times before the red-haired young man managed to find his vocal chords again and put them to use.

"Maybe, but one can never be too sure." Fred laughed softly.

"Oh yes, one never can trust those clocks… Very shady appliances." He smiled warmly, eyelids drooping slightly as he looked at Gene. "Very shady indeed."

The redhead swallowed, suddenly finding his throat to be very dry.

"Precisely."

Fred slowly began to cross the room, feet falling silently on the floor with every tick of that damnable clock. Gene didn't know what exactly to expect, but he could hazard a few guesses. He was torn between wanting to hide under his covers and wanting to stick around to see what exactly it was that Fred was going to do.

He settled for a compromise, grabbing his sheets with one hand but remaining in place.

Well, Fred was pretty close now, and he didn't look to be on the verge of pouncing… Still, one could never be sure, could one. Gene wondered what would happen if he just curled into a ball suddenly.

Before he could contemplate this course of action to its full extent, it had become superfluous. Fred, upon reaching the redhead's bedside, bent over slightly, gently pressing his lips against Gene's left temple.

Gene could only stare, nearly open-mouthed in shock as his dark-haired roommate meandered back over to his own bed, a confident smile resting comfortably on his lips.

"Good night, Gene."

Fred had turned the light out, crawled under his own covers, and fallen asleep before Gene had quite understood what had just happened.

And that gods-accursed clock had the audacity to just keep ticking.

Gene's pencil scribbled furiously across the sheet of paper in front of him, jotting down random numbers that he hoped would make sense to someone; namely, his teacher. He also hoped that said someone couldn't tell that he was trying to bull shit his way through n trigonometry mid-term.

He severely doubted that, but it wouldn't be for lack of effort.

_So, you square n, take the cubed root of pi, and put it all over three hundred and fifty one… _He eyed his equation critically, not even for a moment considering that he wouldn't be going through all this if he had just studied. Studying was for the weak and uncreative.

_Then you add phi, and multiply the result by the cosine of negative theta… _His work looked pretty, if nothing else. He hoped his teacher would be impressed by his knowledge of Greek letters. He vaguely wondered if the lessons they had covered in the past few months had even involved Greek letters as variables. Hey, it was trig, there was always some kind of weird symbol stuck in somewhere.

_… Yea, I'm screwed. _The redhead scanned over the test morosely, looking for something that looked remotely familiar. Finding a small handful of problems that looked somewhat doable, he began to half-heartedly attack them, not really paying attention to what he was doing.

It was a severe injustice that a music major should have to take any math classes anyway. Especially ones like trig. Would he EVER, in his ENTIRE life, need to know about vectors? No. Case closed. This was a worthless class and people were morons for having created it.

Satisfied that his position on the matter was thoroughly stabilized, Gene glanced up at the clock. Five minutes until the bell rang. He went through the test again, filling up all the problems he had skipped with bogus work that he considered to be so near-authenticity that no one would care anyway. Well, no one _should_ care. There was bound to be someone who did, contrary to all reason.

That was a severe injustice too. Gene felt he should be making a list.

Finally, the bell rang, and the professor shouted to the room in general that if their writing utensils were still in hand, there would be hell to pay. In the politest way conceivable, of course.

Rolling his neck, Gene stood slowly, test in hand. He sauntered to the front of the classroom, placing the paper down on the professor's table as delicately as possible. He shot the elderly man a pleasant grin before walking off, taking the look he received in return as evidence that the teacher would no sooner look at his exam than give him a failing mark.

The redhead shrugged to himself as he picked up his bag, exiting the classroom with as much gusto as he could manage. _Maybe I'll glance over my notes before the next major examination…_

Staring at the ground instead of paying proper attention to where it was his feet were taking him, Gene collided with someone. He grunted a swift apology before continuing on his little trek, and didn't realize that a hand on his elbow was holding him in place for a good five seconds. "Hey…"

"Hey yourself." He knew that voice. The redhead turned around to look into the smiling face of his roommate. "Eat lunch with me?"

"Oh." Gene blinked, trying to pull his thoughts away from his sure-to-be depressing math scores. "Sure." He allowed Fred to pull him along, for once not at all perplexed by the other man. Quite the opposite, really… he found himself almost glad to be in the other's presence.

Knowing full well what would happen, the redhead immediately blocked off his mind from delving any deeper into the matter. At the moment, he was just going to enjoy the nice, warm feeling in his stomach instead of thinking about it and giving himself a headache.

There would be time to worry later.

Author's Notes- Wow. This chapter came out pretty quickly in comparison to the last, ne? Aren't you all so lucky. I'm afraid the next may take a while, though… my creativity for this story at the moment is nil. I have no idea why… I know how I want it to end, it's just the getting there that's the problem. How the hell do people write those 20-someodd chapter stories… I just don't understand it. I should eventually though, considering I want to be a novelist… Dearie dearie me.

Right, anyway. Just to address a few things: No, I have nothing against Lenny Kravitz. His hair just amuses me. (Speaking of which, confused about the chapter title? It's a Lenny Kravitz song. Clever, ne?) And yes, I am taking trigonometry, and yes, my final is this week. But I, unlike Gene, actually have some idea of what I'm doing. That was just spawned from a conversation that my friend and I have on the occasion about b-sing math problems. Stick a square root of pi in, and you're good! (Note: I do not condone the bull-shitting of math tests. Save it for the essays, kiddies.)


	6. He's not the one in need of sympathy

Author's Notes- Well well well, here we are again. Never thought I'd last this long, did you? … In truth, neither did I. Hey, pleasant surprises abound. Who knows, perhaps you'll all get some nice, smutty action in this chapter… One never knows what my strange and twisted mind will come up with. Of course, this could all be some sort of cruel plot to keep the lot of you constantly on your toes… But I'm not that evil… Am I?

Disclaimer- Now, THIS is what's cruel… this short, depressing little reminder every chapter that I am not the owner of everything Outlaw Star related, and am not making any money whatsoever off of this thing. … Unless, of course, some kind soul out there would care to donate?

Warning- Hm, you never know, we may actually get up to that yaoi rating in this chapter, oh ho ho ho… No, not really, no lemons this early in the plot, kiddies. So sorry, still just shounen ai.

                "Ow."

                "Sorry."

                "Ow."

                "I have to make the bandage tight, or it won't do anything for you."

                "Ow."

                "All right, now you're just saying that."

                "Ow."

                "Come now, it can't hurt that badly…"

                "Ow."

                "Ok, maybe it can… But still, it's your own fault."

                "Ow."

                "Truly, if you don't quit that, I'll have to make you."

                "….How?"

                Fred smirked. "Why, by occupying your mouth with other things." Gene blanched, and promptly shut up. "Oh, you're no fun." Shaking his head slightly, the dark-haired young man continued wrapping his roommate's ankle, which was resting in his lap. "How did you do this to yourself, again?"

                Gene frowned, glaring at his twisted limb as Fred continued to bandage it. "I already told you."

                "Humor me, I'm giving you medical attention." The redhead's frown deepened, but the expression turned into a wince as Fred gingerly picked up his ankle to tighten the white cotton bandage.

                Regaining his grumpy air soon enough, Gene scowled. "I was standing on my bed and fell off."

                "Indeed?" Fred's voice sounded mildly interested, though Gene knew it was hiding laughter. "And what were you doing standing on your bed?" The redhead didn't answer. "Hm?" Still not receiving a reply, Fred took one hand from the bandage and lightly tickled his roommate's toes, chuckling as Gene squirmed. "Tell me."

                "…Playing my guitar." Now Gene was refusing to meet Fred's eyes; instead burning a hole in the wall. He managed (though just barely) to keep a straight face as the dark-haired man opposite him ran a finger tip slowly down the center of the sole of his foot.

                "Ah. Playing your guitar while standing on your bed." Fred tied the bandage in a tight knot, then doubled it. "That, to me, sounds _insanely_ intelligent. I have _no_ idea how anything could have gone wrong. It must have been some sort of freak accident."

                "Hmph." Gene continued to glare at an innocent wall, not entirely sure that Fred was the best person to have asked for medical attention. "It was the closest thing to a stage I could find, all right?" His roommate laughed.

                "Whatever you say." Running one hand up Gene's leg in a manner that would have directly contributed to quite a few avid church-goers' fainting, Fred gently wrapped his other hand around the redhead's ankle, slowly removing it from his lap and placing it on the ground in quite a delicate fashion. "I'd refrain from jumping on the bed for a while, were I in your shoes."

                "I wasn't jumping on the bed." Finally turning to give Fred a rather insolent look, Gene attempted to stand, wound up putting entirely too much weight on his bad ankle, and promptly collapsed. He considered it quite fortunate that his roommate had jumped up to catch him before he had an untimely meeting with the floor, even after such impudence. "… Thanks."

                "Of course." Twisting his neck slightly, the redhead found himself staring into a smiling face, which was quite near to his own. So near, in fact, that he could feel Fred's breath on his lips. So near, in fact, that he could count the other man's eyelashes. So near, in fact… he knew very well what was coming next.

                Sure enough, Fred closed that ephemeral distance between them, covering Gene's mouth with his own. It was a sweet kiss, chaste and innocent. Fred pulled away before either had a chance to further the meeting of lips, and even before Gene had the time to spaz about the fact that he had been considering it. "Did you know, Gene… your cheeks are clashing with your hair something terrible."

                Fred took the opportunity of his roommate staring at him in open-mouthed—luckily, quite literally—shock, and stole another kiss. This one, though not amazingly passionate, was considerably deeper than the one previous, and left Gene a bit more flushed than he had been before. "Ah, see, now you match."

                As Gene sputtered, trying to come up with a suitable retort, Fred just smiled and gently rubbed noses with the other man. "Don't strain yourself; remember, you're injured."

                "So you're going to abuse your position and molest me, you insidious lech?" Despite the admonition, Gene couldn't hide the grin on his lips. He wondered at his sudden comfort around this dark-haired man, this person who had turned his world upside-down, and had yet to right it properly… Before he had the time to figure that out completely, though, he was jerked back into reality by a very hard something pressing into his thigh.

                "Molest?" Fred raised his eyebrows, taking one arm from around Gene's torso (where it had been since his heroic catch) to lace his fingers with the redhead's. Gene couldn't quite bring himself to obviate the action. "Ah, my dear Gene… molesting is only when one party is not willing."  Bringing the captured hand to his lips, Fred gently kissed the back of his roommate's palm. "And according to an inside source, that is not the case in this situation."

                Gene gulped, now wondering seriously about the direction of this conversation and the actions that went along with it. "Wh… what source would that be…?" He wasn't sure if he really wanted the answer. Fred's knowing grin only served to make him even more unsure about the entire predicament.

                 "Why…" The dark-haired young man tilted his head forward slightly, placing his mouth next to Gene's ear. "The one between your legs."

                The redhead tensed suddenly, belatedly realizing that his own body had betrayed him, and not for the first time. Well, _it_ may be ready for certain things, but his mind most assuredly wasn't. Azure eyes considerably wider than was customary, Gene tried to pull away from the tight embrace of his roommate, simultaneously attempting to escape from the arm wrapped around his chest and the fingers entwined with his own.

                Quite unfortunately (for that one particular corner of his mind), Gene was not the world's greatest multi-tasker.

                "F-Fred…" Gene's effort to make his voice as abstemious as possible failed, quite horribly. His plea came out in a high, slightly broken measure, as though he wasn't quite sure what he was doing. That, of course, was the truth of the matter, but he had been doing his best to hide it. The warm hips in such close proximity with his own did nothing to allay his nerves. Quite the opposite, really. "Don't…"

                "Don't what?" Fred slowly caressed the redhead's lower back with his palm, somehow managing to keep his grip on the other man as inextricable as it had been previously.

                "Don't…" Gene's throat seemed to constrict, successfully blocking off any further vocalizations. Feeling rather helpless, he placed his free hand on Fred's chest, trying to push his roommate away. When the dark-haired man made no move to withdraw, Gene squeezed his eyes shut, fearing the worst.

                Still not allowing his eyelids to open even a crack, the redhead felt himself being slowly pushed backwards. As he felt the backs of his knees bump against the side of his bed, Gene gulped. He had been hoping that Fred would not prove this obdurate, but…

                However, before Gene could finish that thought about his roommate, he felt himself being lowered into a sitting position. Fred only held him long enough to see that he wouldn't fall over once left to his own devices, then pulled away. Hardly daring to believe his luck, the redhead peeked through his eyelashes at the other man. Sure enough, Fred was now across the room, sitting on his own bed and looking at him with a mild expression.

                "Perhaps you should try to avoid worsening your injury when moving about?" Fred raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of laughter behind his voice. "I wouldn't want all of my hard work to go to waste."

                Gene had no idea how the other man was able to speak so calmly. He was still trying to allay his erratic breathing, and was certainly in no condition to engage in light, friendly banter. Still, he couldn't just sit here as Fred laughed at him, especially with this uncomfortable situation in his shorts.  Feeling his cheeks burn, the redhead brought his knees up to his chest in an effort to hide the evidence of his body's reaction to his roommate's amorous advances.

                "Well, how was I supposed to know the strength of my ankle?" Gene, discovering something new to contemplate, focused each and every brain cell on the dull, throbbing pain in his ankle. "I had to test it out, didn't I." Fred quirked an eyebrow.

                "If you say so…" The dark-haired man grinned. "But don't come crying to me when you _really_ injure yourself." Fred tilted his head to the side slightly. "Is that position very comfortable?" He gestured at Gene's legs, which the redhead now had his arms wrapped around to keep them tight against his chest.

                "Extremely." The two young men stared at one another for a moment, Gene, trying his hardest not to let anything slip in front of his roommate, and Fred, thoroughly enjoying the fact that the object of his affections was so flustered as a result of his actions.

                It was Fred who finally broke the silence. "Well, my ever-so-graceful friend…" Gene scowled. "I have voice practice, and that's not exactly something I can do in the library." The dark-haired young man gave his roommate a look that clearly stated that his practice was a very precarious matter, dependent on his consent.  Perhaps it was a bit exaggerated, but it got the point across. "So, if you wouldn't mind…"

                "…Sure, practice in here." Gene blinked in confusion as Fred smiled broadly, eyes closing in happiness. "Why bother asking me?"

                "Oh, I don't know, I wanted to be polite, I suppose." He opened his eyes again, irises sparkling. "And if I feel the need to jump on _my_ bed, I want someone to be here to catch me." Fred laughed as Gene began to sulk.

                "I wasn't jumping on the bed."

                "Whatever you say." Standing, Fred crossed the room to where his roommate was sitting. The redhead tensed slightly, fully aware that he still hadn't quite calmed down from their last interaction. However, again he was proved wrong. Smile still on his face, Fred leaned over to place a quick, soft kiss on Gene's temple before continuing across the room to the desk where his school bag lay. He rummaged around for a moment before returning to his bed, climbing over it to retrieve a small stereo.

                Popping open the CD player, Fred hummed to himself softly as he placed a disc in. Turning the miniature boom box on with a flip of a switch, he turned, the slight trepidation on his face upon seeing Gene plain evidence that he had almost forgotten the other man was there. "Oh… I didn't mean that you had to stay here and watch me…"

                "I don't mind." Gene lowered his knees slightly, so that he was sitting cross-legged. His lower body, finally realizing that it wasn't going to be getting some any time soon, had finally calmed itself. "I'd like to hear you sing."

                Judging from the look Fred was sporting, the redhead could tell that this was definitely an aberration from what the other man was used to during his practice sessions. Nevertheless, before Gene could offer to leave if he wasn't wanted, his roommate was smiling again.

                "All right, but you'd better be prepared for the consequences." Fred tucked an unruly lock of hair behind his ear. "Not everyone is fond of my voice."

                "I'll risk it."

                "What if you can't stand the songs I'll be singing?"

                "I'll do my best to be a polite audience, I promise."

                "Well then, if there's absolutely nothing I can do to deter you…" Gene shook his head when Fred paused for some sort of answer. "It can't be said that I didn't try, keep that in mind for the courts, roommate of mine."

                The redhead rolled his eyes slightly, placing one elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his hand. "Now you're just delaying. Come on, if you ever want to make a living off of this voice of yours, you're going to have to get used to singing in front of people."

                "Ah, but singing to an auditorium full of people whom I don't know and couldn't care less about is very much different than performing in front of one person." For some reason, the statement sounded brief, as though it had been cut off. Indeed, Fred's comparison was rater lopsided, and Gene knew very well what the other man had left out.

                But why had he omitted such a thing…? Was he embarrassed…? The azure-eyed young man mentally rolled his eyes at that. Fred, bashful? Not likely. But then… did that mean that Gene had been mistaken all along, that it _was_ merely lust that his roommate felt for him? Was it all-

                Gene blinked as his very thoughts we cut off by a finger resting lightly on the tip of his nose. Crossing his eyes to stare directly at the offending digit, the redhead frowned slightly, confused. Before the situation could be elucidated properly, he felt warm lips press against his forehead briefly in a swift kiss. "In front of one person whom I _do_ care about."

                Before the (now quite flustered) Gene could react, Fred had pulled away, smiling as he retreated to the side of the room where his CD player lie in wait. As he turned to adjust the volume and track number, Gene allowed himself a soft sigh of relief that was not to be questioned or analyzed in any way shape or form. 

                Fred _did_ care about him. The redhead grinned slightly. He just had to say it in a way that his roommate would notice. But, that was Fred.

                However, Gene's thoughts were yet again cut off in an untimely fashion. He vaguely wondered if he would ever again be able to complete a cogitation. Still, that was in the back of his mind. The front was occupied by other matters.

                Preceding the redhead's knowledge of the fact that Fred was through delaying his little practice session, an odd, varied drum beat began to emanate from the speakers of the man's small stereo, punctuated every few seconds by something that Gene could only describe as an odd gulping noise. He blinked, trying to find the song in his memory banks, but had his search delayed by the sudden addition of Fred's voice to the music.

_"Please allow me to introduce myself,_

_I'm a man of wealth and taste._

_I've been around for a long, long year,_

_Stole many a man's soul and faith."_

                Finally recognizing the song as an old Rolling Stones tune, the redhead frowned slightly. Fred's voice was matching a different tone than the original of Mick Jagger, and, now that he paid more attention, he could tell that the music was slightly different as well. 

_"I was around when Jesus Christ_

_Had his moment of doubt and pain.___

_Made damn sure the Pilate _

_Washed his hands_

_And sealed his fate.___

_Pleased to meet you,_

_Hope you guess my name._

_But what's puzzling you,_

_Is the nature of my game."_

                Resting an elbow on his knee, and then his chin in his hand, Gene watched on his roommate as he sang. Fred wasn't looking at him; indeed, he wasn't really looking at anything. His gaze was pointed at the wall behind Gene's left ear, but his eyes were slightly unfocused, loudly—from a mental standpoint, at least—advertising that he was seeing nothing in front of him.

_"I stuck around St. Petersburg_

_When I saw it was a time for a change._

_I killed the czar and his ministers,_

_Anastasia screamed in vain._

_I rolled a tank, _

_Held a general's rank_

When the Blitzkrieg raged 

_And the bodies stank."_

                The redhead smiled slightly as Fred began to move with the beat as he sang the chorus again, hips swaying slightly as he began to loosen up. Dark eyes once again came into focus, then turned on Gene, causing the blue-eyed young man to blink suddenly. With a grin at his now-acknowledged audience, Fred snapped softly in time with the music as he waited for his cue to continue singing.

_"I watched with glee_

_As your kings and queens_

_Fought for ten decades_

_For the gods they made."_

                Fred seemed to enjoy this verse; or, at least, teeth flashed into his grin for a moment as the words flowed from his lips. Gene couldn't help but grin in return as his roommate got more and more into the song he was singing. However, he was a bit taken aback as Fred crossed the room, not once breaking the rhythm in his motions or voice, to set himself down gracefully on the redhead's lap.

_"I shouted out, _

_'Who killed the Kennedeys?'_

When after all,  
It was you and me."

                The redhead gulped audibly as Fred continued to wriggle his hips in time to the song, seeming completely unconscious of the fact that he was rubbing Gene in, to coin a phrase, all the right ways. Gene tried to lean back away from his zealous roommate, but found that the further he went back, the further Fred went forward.

_"So let me please introduce myself,_

_I'm a man of wealth and taste._

_I laid traps for troubadours_

Who get killed before they reach Bombay."

                The song began to slow, and Gene let out a soft sigh of relief as Fred's movements simmered down as well to stay with the beat. However, the dark-haired young man in his lap moved no further away, instead choosing to lean lightly against Gene's chest as he continued to sing, voice dropping slightly to suit the song.

_"Just as every cop's a criminal,_

_And all the sinners saints…_

_As the heads is tails,_

_Just call me Lucifer,_

_'Cause I'm in need of…_

_Some restraint."___

                Fred's grin widened slightly, and he shifted his body so that his lips were mere centimeters away from those of his roommate, breath drifting warmly over Gene's mouth.

_"So if you meet me,_

_Have some courtesy,_

_Have some sympathy,_

_And some taste._

_Use all your well-learned politesse,_

_Or I'll lay your soul to waste." _

                Using the next instrumental verse to his advantage, Fred tilted his head forward slightly, planting a kiss on the redhead's slightly parted lips. It lasted longer than Gene would have expected, since the song continued without the need of a vocalist. In fact, the blue-eyed young man didn't quite grasp the situation at hand until he felt a tongue gently pressing against his lips.

                "Hey!" Gene jerked back, and, because of his previous position, wound up lying flat on his back, pinned at the hips by his grinning roommate. Now that he thought about it, this seemed to be more of a step backwards than anything. "… Oh."

                "Oh indeed." The song's last riff began to fade, and soon there was no sound at all in the room but the heated breathing of the two college students.

                Gene stared up into the dark eyes of the young man sitting on top of him. They were narrowed in mirth, and the redhead found himself a touch nervous as to what that look would lead to, exactly. However, before he could think up a suitable plan for escape, his thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice.

                "Thank you for listening to me practice, Gene." Warm lips pressed against Gene's in a sweet, chaste kiss before pulling away. The redhead tensed slightly as Fred dragged his body off of his roommate's in a highly suggestive manner, then proceeded to cross the room once more to retrieve his CD player.

                Unable to do anything else (except breathe in a highly embarrassing fashion), Gene raised his head slightly to watch Fred's retreat, noticing as the other man began to purposely swing his hips upon feeling the redhead's eyes on him.

                Allowing his head to drop back onto the mattress, Gene stared at the ceiling with a defeated air.

                _Holy shit._

Author's Notes- Wow, aren't you all so lucky… sticking that song in there so late into the chapter made me write about five hundred words more than I normally do… Consider yourselves blessed by the deity of your choosing.

The song used in this chapter was _Sympathy for the Devil_, and, as Gene had supposed, I was not using the original version by the Rolling Stones. I prefer the Guns N' Roses version myself, so, Fred was singing that one. The lyrics are no different (as far as I know), only the music and the voice. I am not implying, however, that Fred's voice is at all like Axl Rose's… Ah, maybe I am, who knows. Fred's voice sounds however you choose it to sound, all right? Happy?

Anyway, was that a good choice of song? Originally, I was considering having Fred sing _Through the Night_, but that would just be entirely too tacky. Such is life.

I apologize for not being as witty as usual in this endnote, but I assumed that explanations ranked a bit higher than your ha-has. I'm terribly sorry if I misjudged, and shall do my best to be as scathingly sardonic as possible when I am next given the chance, ok?


	7. A rather crazy lack of precipitation

Author's Notes- My my, I had no idea that the last chapter would get such positive feedback! I'd assumed that you all would have been quite tired of my tendency to draw things out, and very near beating me with a large stick to move things along in a quick fashion. Apparently, I do not give my readers enough credit. I do appreciate all of the reviews, rest assured. I don't respond to them, as some authors do, because... well, frankly, I'm lazy. You're lucky you get a chapter at all. (I'm horrible, I know.) In any event, I'm very glad that you all enjoyed the smut last chapter, along with the song choice and poor attempt at humor in the beginning. However, I find myself apologizing again for my lack of clever remarks in these notes, but alas, I always manage to find other things to ramble about. Such is life.

Disclaimer- Yes yes, the same old song and dance... Oh, dear, I can't say that without a disclaimer either, can I? Drat. In case any of you hadn't already noticed, I own nothing Outlaw Star related, and am most certainly not being paid for the writing of this story. I'm sure the phrase "same old song and dance" was popular before the Aerosmith—a band which I cannot lay any claim to—song of the same title, but I'd rather be safe and wordy than playing solitaire in a jail cell.

Warning- I'm afraid, oh devoted reader, that we must linger still in the shounen ai area of things. Depressing, yes, but I do hope to make all of the waiting worth it in the end. (Ha.)

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Gene picked at the salad that served as his lunch, mulling over the plethora of thoughts that had congregated in his mind. He was thinking a lot more than usual, lately, and was beginning to wonder why that was. The obvious route of action, of course, would be to place the blame on Fred, but unwanted amorous advances certainly shouldn't be causing anywhere near this amount of headaches.

However, slightly confusing yet desired amorous advances, on the other hand...

The redhead sighed, his fork stabbing at a (now quite perforated) piece of lettuce, though never lifting it to his mouth. He had yet to take a bite of his lunch, and only noticed this when his stomach made a vociferous complaint about the situation.

Grudgingly, Gene shoved a forkful of dressing-covered lettuce past his lips, and chewed it thoughtfully. His eyes were unfocused, and he didn't really see anything in front of him. He didn't see anything behind him, either, but that was assumed to be common-knowledge. The redhead was so far out of it that he didn't notice the person standing directly in front of his table until they cleared their throat politely. In truth, he didn't really notice them then, either, but his eyes seemed to decide that the landscape was now much closer than it had been previously, and that this was a matter of some interest.

Blinking once, Gene swallowed his mouthful and looked up into the face of the intruder of his solitude. It was a cheerful, smiling face, but one that, at the same time, looked a bit embarrassed and anxious. "Um, hi." The timid greeting seemed to hold all the same emotions that the face did. Gene tried to place it somewhere in his memory.

"Oh, hi... Melfina, was it?"

"Right!" The girl smiled broadly, apparently very pleased that Gene had remembered her name. Were he in a proper state of mind, the redhead might have had some idea as to where this conversation would eventually lead, based on that alone, but at the moment, he couldn't seem to tear any mind power away from a certain navy-haired, laughing someone.

He decided that now would be the perfect time to try out that whole denial thing.

"Er... any reason you came over to talk to me, in particular?" Melfina blushed slightly, then began to laugh in a manner that Gene could describe with no other word besides 'girly'. Now that he thought about it, it probably would have been better placed under the category of a giggle.

It was amazing what he could think about when all serious cogitating energy was used elsewhere.

"Oh, yea, how silly of me!" She giggled again. "Um, is it all right if I sit down?"

"Sure..." Gene waited until she had settled herself in the uncomfortable cafeteria chair until he began expecting some sort of continuation in their conversation.

"So, I don't know if you remember anything about me but my name..." She looked hopeful, as if wishing very hard that Gene _did_, in fact, remember something else.

"Oh." The redhead paused for a moment. "Yea, I remember, you helped me on my first day here... and I see you in some of my classes, right?" This seemed to exceed the cheerful girl's expectations. If he didn't know better, Gene could have sworn that she had just jumped from anxious to ecstatic. Again, were he thinking properly, he would have known what was going on. At the moment, he was too busy wondering what made the girl's teeth so shiny.

"Right again!" Melfina leaned forward slightly, a definitely girlish blush tinting her cheeks. Gene couldn't help but realize that the adjective used wasn't all that appealing, then wondered why. "Um, I know this might be kinda weird, since we don't really know each other all that well and everything, but..." She hesitated. Finally, Gene began to get a vague idea of what was coming next. "Would you like to... you know... go out some time?"

The redhead blinked. This was certainly something new. Here was an attractive girl his own age, displaying an interest in him; hell, asking him out. A lot of guys would probably jump at the chance, and, given the option a few months earlier, he probably would have too.

And yet...

And yet he could think of nothing but dark, laughing eyes narrowed in mirth, soft lips stretched in a mischievous grin, a beautiful, pale face and an expression that, if playful, had that alluring undertone of undeniable dominance.

This was, without a doubt, not the person who was currently sitting in front of him, with that puppy-dog expression of innocent hope.

A hope that, though it made him feel a bit guilty, he had to crush.

"... I'm sorry." He watched that hope slowly flicker away from Melfina's eyes. "I really am, but I kind of... already have someone I like." Part of his mind keeled over in pure shock at what had just left his mouth. He ignored it, for the moment.

"Oh." The girl didn't look as crushed as Gene had expected, which was a very good thing for his conscience, if not for his ego. That in itself was confusing, because, had he said anything else, he would have been somehow betraying... He stopped that thought before it got anywhere. "I understand." She smiled slightly. "It can't hurt to ask though, right?"

"Right."

"Well, I hope you and whoever you like are happy!" The redhead blinked in shock. The statement was cheerful, and, above all, very sincere. He had never before met anyone who could say something like that immediately after being rejected. It was unnerving.

"Um, yea..." He had no idea where the blush was coming from, but he stopped it from surfacing anyway. There were certain things that, if he couldn't explain them to himself, he certainly didn't want to have to bother attempting to explain them to someone else.

"Do you mind if I sit here for a while, though?" That same expression of hope had returned to the girl's face, and Gene wondered seriously how the same expression could be used for such different questions. He let it slide quickly, though, not wanting to injure his brain any more than need be.

"Not at all." In fact, he rather liked the idea of company. Fred usually ate lunch with him, but today the other young man had been held late in his voice class for reasons on which he had forgotten to elaborate. It had been very difficult for the redhead to admit that, yes, he _missed_ his roommate.

It was amazing that he wasn't suffering from a serious nosebleed.

So, this was the perfect opportunity to distract himself from thinking thoughts that he really didn't care to be thinking at that particular time and place. Melfina, apparently over her initial nervousness, carried on most of the conversation by herself, Gene only occasionally inputting a sentence or two. At one point, the redhead got around to mentioning an acquaintance in his math class who he had, coincidentally, caught giving Melfina a longing gaze on more than one occasion. The girl giggled again upon receiving the information, saying that she would make sure to at least say hello to the guy.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking..." The cheerful student tilted her head slightly, giving Gene a sidelong look. "Just who is it that you like?"

Gene choked on a piece of lettuce.

"Er... It's just... I mean... you wouldn't... know... them." Rubbing his throat, the redhead tried to quell his sudden bout of anxiety. He had almost forgotten to replace the 'him' with 'them', a far less conspicuous pronoun. He most certainly didn't want people saying that he was gay, and even if Melfina wouldn't say anything, someone else was bound to overhear the conversation.

"Oh." Studying Gene's face for a moment, the girl smiled. "That's all right, I understand if you don't want to tell me. Everyone has their secrets, right?" Her expression was so incredibly bright and cheerful that Gene couldn't help but give it a small smile in return.

"... Yea, I guess so."

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As he walked down the hall to his shared dormitory, Gene hummed quietly, not thinking of anything in particular. He rather enjoyed the mental emptiness: a thing he had long forgotten the beauty of. Turning, the redhead dug around in his pocket for his key ring, still humming beneath his breath.

It wasn't until he had slid the key into the door that he heard the sounds coming from inside of his current abode. Blinking once, Gene leaned closer to the door, trying to discern the mellifluous sounds coming from the other side. In its current state of blankness, his mind was quickly filled by what it finally identified as music.

Finally turning the key, the young man lightly pushed the door open, belatedly realizing that doing this in the first place instead of puzzling outside would have saved him a minor amount of confusion. Shrugging the knowledge off, Gene lightly tossed his book bag onto his bed, following it rather gracelessly. Lying on his stomach, he rested his elbows on the mattress, then his head in his hands.

Fred was singing again.

_I just want someone to say to me, (oh oh oh oh)_

_I'll always be there when you wake._

_You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today,_

_So stay with me and I'll have it made. _

Gene found the corners of his mouth turning upward into a smile as he watched the other young man perform, currently facing unknowingly away from his audience. Fred swayed slightly in time with the music, rocking back and forth with the gentle beat.

_And I don't understand why I sleep all day,_

_And I start to complain that there's no rain._

_And all I can do is read a book to stay awake,_

_And it rips my life away,_

_But it's a great escape._

Escape, escape, escape... 

Pausing his vocal addition to the song as a guitar solo picked its way into existence, Fred turned, continuing to move slightly in a way that could be described with no other word but dancing. Spotting Gene, the dark-haired young man's eyes widened slightly. However, he didn't even get knocked off his beat. When it was his cue to sing once more, he addressed the song to his observer.

_All I can say is that my life is pretty plain,_

_You don't like my point of view,_

_And I'm insane._

_It's not sane... It's not sane._

The song was something Gene could remember hearing maybe once or twice before, but nothing that registered in his mind as a major deal. It was nice, in spite of all that, and Fred's voice seemed to fit its bittersweet tone perfectly. As the last verse neared, the vocalist crossed the room, stopping in front of the redhead to sing down to him with a slight smile on his face.

_I just want someone to say to me, (oh oh oh oh)_

_I'll always be there when you wake._

_You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today,_

_So stay with me and I'll have it made._

Gene puzzled over this sudden attention, watching as Fred returned to his corner of the room to turn off his small stereo as the song ended. As much as he cherished that previous lack of serious cogitation, he finally admitted that it was to be short lived.

Now that he allowed himself to think about it, the bittersweet tone he had been analyzing previously became a sudden, jarring note in his mind. And had it been coincidental, that Fred had made such a point to address that last verse specifically to him? Had the other man even thought about what he was doing, or had he merely felt like moving to a closer proximity?

As desired as that latter explanation was, it didn't make as much sense as a plausible solution should have.

"Well, aren't you the lucky one." Gene remotely wished that his thoughts had been interrupted earlier, before he had made his rather obvious discovery. "That's twice now you've gotten to hear me live in concert..." He couldn't help but calm slightly as the warmth of Fred's smile enveloped him. "I'm going to have to start making you buy tickets you soon, you know."

"What, don't devoted groupies get to sneak backstage, free of charge?"

Fred looked a bit surprised at this. "You're my groupie now?"

Gene shrugged, his expression good-natured. A part of his mind marveled at how comfortable he had become around the other man. "If it keeps me from having to pay." His roommate laughed.

"Alas, it all comes down to money in the end." Returning to the redhead's bed, Fred plopped down beside the other man gracelessly, leaning back on his hands and giving Gene a crooked smile. "And here I thought that I had won a place in your heart." The tone was light and mocking, but the expression hinted at something much more serious.

Gene stared into the dark-haired man's eyes for a moment, unsure about how to reply. He had a feeling that Fred was trying to confess something, if in a roundabout way; however, a part of his mind argued that he was looking too deeply into things.

For once in his life, the redhead didn't give into confusion. For once in his life, he decided to open himself to all possibilities. For once in his life, he admitted to himself that one of these possibilities might be somewhere along the lines of caring for Fred.

In a more than friendly way.

And, for once in his life, Gene did not let such shocking information jar him.

At least, not at that particular time and place. The jarring could wait. At that particular time and place... there was Fred. Fred and his bittersweet song, Fred and his bittersweet comment, Fred and his bittersweet expression.

Fred and his desperate attempt to find something even remotely similar to his own emotions behind the azure depths of Gene's eyes.

In a move far more courageous than anything previous, Gene slid his hand across the comforter of his bed, gently placing his fingers over Fred's. Dark eyes widened slightly, but the navy-haired man said nothing. Continuing with this sudden streak of boldness, the redhead spoke.

"I wouldn't say that you hadn't won a place in my heart." His mouth suddenly felt dry, but there was certainly no stopping now. He wasn't quite sure how far he had to go, but he did know that he had to do something, anything to take that sadness away from the man sitting next to him.

"Oh?" Fred's eyebrows rose, but his expression remained otherwise bland. However, there was a small flicker of hope in his eyes as he continued. "What would you say, then?"

Gene tried to look away, but found he couldn't. His gaze remained fixed on the other man's dark gaze, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Likewise, there was nothing he could do about what he was leading himself into.

And yet.... That courage that had initiated the situation suddenly seemed mysteriously absent.

"I..." It was a start. A very positive start. It could lead to anything.

In spite of the possibilities, Gene found himself at a loss. Biting down lightly on his lower lip, he searched his mind, lost. This was something new, a situation that he had never previously encountered. He had no past experience to base his next few words on, he-

Feeling something gently brush against his hand, the redhead suddenly found himself able to look down. Spotting the source of the feeling, Gene felt an unexplained (yet completely welcome) sense of relief wash over him. Fred had turned his own hand over, and was slowly running his thumb over the back of the other man's palm. The soft touch, for some reason, comforted Gene far more than anything he could ever hope to dream up.

Shifting his head, the blue-eyed young man found himself looking into his roommate's eyes once more. However, this time he was not lost. This time, he knew what he was going to say.

For once in his life, Gene didn't hesitate. For once in his life, Gene ignored the part of his mind that objected to all of this. For once in his life...

Gene admitted aloud what that one possibility was.

"I'd say that you have a very definite spot there."

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Author's Notes- Shew, how's that for an ending? I admit, this chapter was rather devoid of smut, but such is life. I managed to end it on a happy note, though, so I don't want to hear any complaints. Comments, though, and compliments, are very much welcome. By Ra, what do you think encouraged me to finish this chapter in less than five months anyway? Your reviews really encourage me to get my lazy ass writing, so don't feel that you write to me for naught. I thank all of you reviewers from the bottom of this caramel-filled Hershey kiss that currently serves as my heart. (You see, my heart went out to Trowa in Mezra's "Stealing Rank", so I had to have something to keep me going.)

Also, did you like the song choice for this chapter? In case you didn't know, the song is called "No Rain", and is performed by Blind Melon. It happens to be one of my favorite songs (and also the first song I was truly obsessed with), and I had to use it somewhere. Not to mention that it does fit rather nicely. Don't like it? Life's tough.


	8. The various interpretations of silence

Author's Notes- Oh dear, what a reputation this story has earned! And at first I thought it would get around ten reviews at best… I very much appreciate the fact that you all felt the need to prove me wrong. I am deeply touched by all of your compliments and encouragement to continue. In fact, I think that they may be what actually guilt me in to writing the chapters at a semi-reasonable rate (semi-reasonable for me, anyway). So lazy, I am.

I am also rather amused to note that I have received my first flame for this story! Morons never cease to amuse me. It wasn't even a remarkable flame though, truly… it seems they hit the 'review' button before they were done with their thoughts. Alas, it appears I cannot please everyone. Ra knows, I do my damndest. I do hope that this chapter will satisfy as the others have, and I also hope that you've managed to stay with me through all of my rantings and ravings. (Now when did these quit being witty and clever and turn into long, involved 'thank you's, I wonder…)

Disclaimer- Believe me my dears, if I were the owner of all things Outlaw Star related… well, I certainly wouldn't need to write this story, for one thing.

Warning- Well well well, will we escalate to that yaoi rating in this chapter? Perhaps, and perhaps not… I am still rather wary about what I should and should not post at , so, we shall see. (Fear not, if I suddenly feel an insatiable urge to write something nice and lemony, I shall not abstain; I'll merely post it elsewhere for all of you devoted fans to read.)

Note- Since this chapter begins immediately where the last left off, I decided to cater to the needs of my readers and repeat the last few lines of dialogue here, just to make sure we're all on the same page. Being the kind person that I am, I'll put the recap in italics. My politesse amazes even me.

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_ "I wouldn't say that you hadn't won a place in my heart."_

_ "Oh? What would you say, then?"_

_ "I… I'd say that you have a very definite spot there."_

Gene watched as Fred's dark eyes began to widen in disbelief. He could almost sense the other man's desperate hope, and silently cursed himself for giving his roommate cause to doubt his previous statement.

"Would you…" Fred inhaled deeply. "Would you mind… saying that again? I'm not sure I heard you properly." Gene drew his eyebrows together in concern; he had never seen the dark-haired man so unsure, so confused.

So needy.

The guitarist felt an immediate, overpowering urge to put to rest any uncertainties that Fred may have ever had about him. Sparkling blue eyes never leaving the deep brown ones before him, Gene smiled softly.

"I said," Lifting the other man's hand, Gene lightly placed it on his chest, directly over his heartbeat, his gentle grip making sure that it remained where he wished it to be. "That you have a definite place here." He tapped his index finger over the back of Fred's palm once, making sure he got the point.

The navy-haired college student blinked once, disbelief clouding his eyes as he stared at his hand, pressed tightly against Gene's muscular chest. He could feel the steady pulse of the other man's heart against his palm, and began to slowly flex his fingers, stretching them as far as they would go, attempting to touch all of Gene that he could; trying to convince himself that yes, this was real.

This was real.

Taking a breath, Fred raised his gaze, feeling nervous for the first time since he had met Gene. Dark eyes again met cerulean, and, upon seeing the truth behind those sparkling irises, Fred found himself smiling widely.

"Well." The dark-haired man felt the urge to laugh in delight, but kept the vocalization at bay. "In that case." Digging his fingers into Gene's shirt, Fred narrowed his eyes mischievously, smile turning into a predatory grin. In an abrupt change of moods, he leaned forward, pressing the redhead down onto the mattress, then crawled forward to straddle his hips. "I think you can have all the free concerts you want."

"You're very kind." A gasp escaped Gene's parted lips as Fred lightly ground his hips into the shorter man's, successfully silencing any other clever marks the other student may have had in mind.

"But…" The navy-haired student bent down, his mouth mere millimeters away from being able to claim the other man's. "I think that, perhaps, I deserve some sort of compensation." His eyes sparkled, and Gene could see the laughter behind them. However, he could also see something else, something that, for the first time, did not scare him.

Though it did make him a bit nervous.

The redhead managed a small laugh. "I have no idea what you're talking about…" He could feel Fred's breath against his lips, and surprised himself by admitting that he quite enjoyed the sensation. "Doesn't 'free' imply 'for nothing'?"

The navy-haired man smirked impishly, and Gene felt a definite shiver run through his entire body. "Ah, perhaps I phrased it wrong, then." Fred shifted slightly, making it very difficult for the man beneath him to keep from groaning. "When I said 'free', I merely meant that I would not require you to pay with money." The vocalist chuckled as Gene squirmed in response to another shift of his hips. In truth, he had to make a real effort to hide how very ebullient his mood was, but the responses to his teasing were well worth the strain.

Inhaling deeply, the redhead managed to accumulate enough oxygen to form a complete sentence. "I feel as though I'm being taken advantage of…" Fred's soft laughter caressed his ears, and Gene tilted his head back slightly, withering under the sound as though it were a physical touch.

"Goodness." Eyes never leaving the other man's, Fred slid his free hand to the side, deftly enlacing his fingers with his roommate's. "I'd hate for you to feel disconsolate about the matter…" Slowly, he pushed Gene's arm up so that it rested above his head, though not releasing his hand once he had it in the desired position. "And I doubt seriously that you are being taken advantage of, per se…"

"Oh? And what would you say?" Absently, the blue-eyed college student gave the other man's hand a gentle squeeze, allowing his body to relax completely beneath Fred's slightly longer frame.

Well, perhaps not completely.

His groin didn't seem to get the message.

"Well, if you're so fixed on that idea, I'm not sure I could say anything…" Fred smiled gently, basking in Gene's small displays of affection. It seemed that all of his hard work was finally paying off, and he felt as though he were the epitome of happiness. "But I might try to allay your fears." Not allowing the shorter man enough time to response, the navy-haired vocalist closed that minute distance between their lips, claiming Gene's mouth with his own.

The redhead felt himself instinctively tensing at the contact, but found that it was very simple to relax once again. He hadn't been expecting such a physical reaction to his small confession, but, looking back, he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Marveling at the fact that he hadn't melted all over the mattress yet, Gene parted his lips as he felt a warm tongue probing against them gently, making a soft request that he couldn't deny.

Once Fred's tongue had entered his mouth, he found that sensible thoughts became few and far between. He was entirely to focused on the way the hot velvet of his roommate's tongue caressed the inside of his cheeks; how his own tongue seemed to decide of its own volition to react with an intimate stroke or two of its own. Gene quite enjoyed the small sound of pleasure that came from Fred's throat as the redhead became a more active participant in the kiss, and wondered vaguely how he could earn another.

Pulling away slowly, Fred closed his mouth around Gene's lower lip, sucking on his prisoner once before releasing it. Clouded eyes opening lazily, the navy-haired young man peered down at his roommate, lips curving in to a gentle grin at the dazed look on the redhead's face.

"You look very alluring like that, Ge-ene." Fred put a slight lilt on the other man's name, teasing in a loving fashion. "Do you think that's very wise, in these circumstances…?" Raising his free hand, the vocalist brushed the tips of his fingers against the soft skin beneath Gene's left eye, then down to trace his jawbone.

The redhead inhaled deeply a few times, his mind still trying to recover from what he had just identified as the best kiss of his life. "I…" He took another breath and tried again. "I doubt anything I do is particularly 'wise'…" As Fred's wandering hand made a detour into his hair, Gene tilted his head to the side, absently leaning into the touch. "And…" He trailed off once more, but this time didn't make as if to continue.

"And…?" The navy-haired young man gently caressed the redhead's scalp, noting the contented purr the action received. Noting how particularly delectable Gene's neck looked when he held his head in that position. Noting how he very much wished to taste that tantalizing throat. Realizing that his answer was going to be anything but immediate, Fred gave in to temptation, leaning down to lick at the skin around his roommate's collarbone.

"And… well…" Gene paused momentarily to let a pleasured sigh pass his lips as Fred's exploring mouth found a particularly sensitive spot in the dip of his neck. "Uhn…. I… don't… know…" His roommate chuckled, and his warm breath brushed over the redhead's now-damp skin, causing him to shiver slightly.

"It seems I rob you of your thoughts." After pressing a gentle kiss just under Gene's jawbone, Fred glanced up to give the other man a look that fell somewhere between loving and devious. The shorter man wouldn't be at all surprised if he found himself on the receiving end of that look countless times in the future. "And I'm not even doing anything… goodness." The navy-haired student shifted his hips again, the not-quite-innocent expression suggesting that the action was anything but accidental.

"Tease."

"Oh? A tease, am I?" Closing his eyes half-way, Fred slid a hand up Gene's shirt, reaching up to trace a nipple with his forefinger. By the time he actually got around to touching the nub itself, it was a hard pebble of pink flesh. The vocalist let out a quick breath of laughter. "Why, that would mean that I'm withholding from you something that you want…" Slowly, he began to roll the nipple between his thumb and finger, absolutely adoring the mewling sounds the action elicited from Gene's throat. "But what could that be?"

He was replied with a rather heartfelt groan.

"Ah, I see." With a smile, Fred bent down over the redhead once more, tongue taking advantage of those soft, parted lips and delving into the warm wet of Gene's mouth. The shorter man gasped around the intrusion, but soon closed his lips over the muscle that seemed so intent upon ravishing every inch of the inside of his mouth.

He seriously considered homicide when a cell-phone rang.

Fred pulled away at the sound, placing a small, apologetic kiss to the corner of Gene's lips before reaching over to answer the irksome interruption. Winking at his roommate, he mouthed 'Just one minute' before holding the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

Gene considered yanking the phone away from the other man and yelling something rather crude into the mouthpiece, but the sudden presence of wandering fingers beneath the waistband of his pants set that notion packing.

"Oh. I see. I'll be there in a few minutes, then." He didn't, however, like the sound of that. "Don't worry, it's not a problem…" Gene spotted the wince at that comment, and couldn't help but feeling relieved that it was a definite lie. He didn't like the thought that he was as unimportant to make that statement true.

"Yes. All right. Good bye." Pressing a button to end the call, Fred sighed slightly. A corner of his mouth raised in a sheepish half-grin, he raised a hand to pet Gene's hair. "That was the director of the musical theater troupe… there was a problem with their volunteer for today…"

"Let me guess." The redhead found it hard to be too vexed with his roommate's fingers caressing his scalp like that. "They need you to come down right away." He closed his eyes, sighing quietly as the other man's free hand joined the first, doubling the comforting pleasure of the light massage.

"I'm sorry." Leaning over, Fred brushed his lips over the other man's eyelid. "Truly, I am." He repeated the action on Gene's neglected eyelid. "But it seems I'm the only one they can call at the moment." Dipping his head lower, he caught the redhead's lower lip in his mouth, and proceeded to suck on it gently for a short while.

Sitting up once more, the vocalist tilted his head to the side, smiling. "I'll be back soon." Placing a finger his roommate's lips, he raised his eyebrows minutely. "Don't forget about me." He rocked his lower body pointedly, wanting to make doubly sure that Gene knew exactly what he meant.

"Fat chance of that."

Fred laughed softly. "Very good." Slowly, he stood, exhaling through his teeth at the hardness between his legs. "I'll make sure that I'm not too long." He grinned, unable to resist. "Long gone, that is." His mirth only grew at the sudden reddish tint that appeared in Gene's cheeks.

Sliding off the edge of the bed, the vocalist slid his feet into his shoes, scooping up that accursed cell phone and slipping it in to a pocket. "Worry not, fair youth, for I shall return." He caught the pillow that had been aimed at his chest. "Oo, so violent."

"The sooner you go, the sooner you get _back_." Gene gave the other man a mild glare from beneath the arm he had thrown over his eyes. "So _go_ already."

"So eager, too!" Turning, the navy-haired student made sure to sway his hips slightly more than necessary as he walked away. "I do believe I'm getting through to you, Gene…" He chuckled as he dodged the next pillow, throwing a jaunty wave over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

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Shoving the last over-sized prop (which happened to be a palm tree, an item whose importance Fred never did quite discern) onto its brightly colored x, Fred exhaled in relief, plopping down gracelessly on the hard black surface of the stage. The sound of footsteps indicated that someone was approaching, more than likely the director to thank him for his help. Ann, as the woman insisted on being called, was never one to let help go unappreciated.

"Oh, Fred, you're a lifesaver." Yes, sometimes the vocalist impressed even himself with his preternatural cognizance of reality. "No one else had the time to come down, after my volunteer bailed at the last minute…" The middle-aged woman shook her head slightly, rubbing her forehead as she moved to stand beside the brightly colored palm tree. When she paused to make a few marks on the clipboard she carried, Fred gazed up at the ridiculously green fronds, resting back on his hands as he pondered the existence of such a large piece of foliage in the scenery.

"It was no problem, really." It was a lie, yes, but what was he supposed to say? The navy-haired student could barely suppress a grin at the possible responses that came to mind. He was quite sure they were nowhere along the lines of what the stressed director wanted to hear. "Glad I could help." Ann laughed, resting her clipboard against her hip.

"You're a good kid. If you ever need any recommendations, you be sure to come to me first." Stepping forward, she ruffled the vocalist's hair before making her exit. "Thank you again, you have no idea how much you've helped."

Fred shook his head at her retreating back. "I might begin to get an inkling if you'd quit doing that to my head!" The woman only laughed again. Frowning slightly, the young man reached up to straighten his mussed locks, almost absently smoothing the navy strands. Hearing the far away slam of the auditorium door, he sighed quietly, knowing that it was more than worth it to get up, but unable to find the energy to do so.

With a roll of his neck, he rocked his weight forward, preparing to stand. However, upon hearing another, somewhat closer door slam, he smiled slightly. "So impatient that you couldn't wait another…" He cut himself off upon seeing the intruder. Or, rather, intruders. That fact in itself threw off his original suspicions at the identity of any interloper.

There were three, rather rough looking students striding up the aisles of the auditorium, doing their best to look suitably threatening. Fred kept an eye on the lot of them, expression mildly questioning. The largest, a man with close-cropped blonde hair clad in a pair of low-fitting jeans and a crass t-shirt was apparently the leader of the little gang. Fred had a vague remembrance of the man's face, and, if his retrospection served him, the blonde was not exactly known to be the friendly sort. The scowl on his face did nothing to disprove the validity of his hazy memory.

_Oh dear._

Tilting his head to one side, the vocalist looked at the other two in turn. Separate, they were nothing impressive, perhaps a bit more muscular than usual, with styles of dress and hair similar to that of their 'leader', something that further promoted the idea of his authority. Mundane as the students may have appeared separately, the three together created a force that would certainly demand a definite amount of attention.

Noticing the rather cliché way the leader was cracking his knuckles every now and again, Fred had a rather uneasy feeling as to what sort of attention, exactly, the small group would demand.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" Narrowing his eyes slightly, the navy-haired student tried to place a name with the face he knew. The man occasionally took part in theater productions, his name would have been available for learning on more than one occasion… Kyle, maybe? Or Kevin? "The play isn't until tomorrow night, I'm afraid you're a bit early to reserve seats."

"Don't be smart, Luo." The combination of the man's gruff voice and the use of Fred's last name suddenly managed to ring a bell.

"Kenneth, was it?" Crossing his legs in front of him, the vocalist leaned forward slightly, trying to make his expression as amicable as possible. "What can I do for you?" The students had now ascended the steps to the stage, and were currently in the process of staggering themselves around Fred in a vaguely circular pattern. _Why does this seem familiar…_The student frowned slightly, not liking the way this little encounter was going.

"You can get your faggot ass out of here, for one thing." Ah, so he was one of _those_. "You're not even in this production, what the hell are you doing here?" Unimpressed with the man's lack of vocabulary, Fred just barely managed to avoid an eye roll before responding.

"I was responding to a distress call, as it were." Nonchalantly, he stood, finding the prospect of being in a vulnerable sitting position around these three not at all appealing. "Today's volunteer couldn't make it, so Ann called me to help with the scenery." Raising his eyebrows slightly, he decided to be, as this blonde brute called it, 'smart'. "Surely you cannot consider me at fault for THAT."

"Matter of fact, I can." Kenneth crossed his arms over his chest, making the attempt to look impressive, even though now Fred stood a good two inches taller than he did. "I was the volunteer for today, and I was just a little late."

"That wasn't the impression I received." The navy-haired student shrugged. "Either way, the job got done. No need to thank me. I'm sure you can help out another time." Figuring his job in the area to be complete, Fred turned to leave.

"Not the point, asshole." A rough hand gripped his shoulder, proving that escaping this rather unpleasant situation was going to prove more difficult than he had thought. "You took my fucking job, like you _always_ do around here." He could hear the scowl in the other man's voice. "Always hoggin' the damned spotlight, aren't you?"

Fred couldn't help an eye-roll at that comment. "I can't help that I'm a better performer than you are, give me a break." Coming to the conclusion that the blonde wouldn't appreciate (and more than likely wouldn't comprehend) his elevated diction, the vocalist chose to be crude. "Piss off and leave me alone."

"No, I don't think so." Tugging, Kenneth nearly sent Fred's slighter frame off-balance. "I'm really sick of your attitude, you fucking homo, and I'm sick of everyone treating you like the next big thing." The blonde tightened his grip, and Fred had to make a real effort to keep from grimacing in pain.

"Well then, you'll really have a problem when they turn out to be right, won't you?" Stiffening his body in preparation for the blow he knew was coming, the vocalist inhaled deeply. "Now, get your hand off of me, or I swear I will forcibly remove your ability to create offspring."

"Big words, Luo." Unsurprisingly, Kenneth did not move his hand. "I'd like to see what a pansy-ass like you could do to back up that threat."

"Oh?" Had the blonde been able to see the other student's face, perhaps he would have felt a little wary. The smile spreading on Fred's lips was anything but affable, and the sheer threatening coldness behind it would have made quite a few people more nervous than they'd care to admit. "Well then, I'd hate to disappoint." Raising his knee, the navy-haired young man made an educated guess, and then kicked out backwards with as much strength as he could muster.

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Author's Notes- Dearie dearie me, I do apologize at the rather delayed completion of this chapter. School really is quite the bitch. I will make a real effort to update again in a more timely fashion, since I have a good portion of the next chapter planned out already. (Ha, like that gives me the time or motivation to write it…) Oh well. Such is life, I'm afraid. I am grateful for your patience, in any event, and do hope that the rather sporadic schedule of this story has not frightened you away.

Alas, there is no song to comment on this chapter. If any of you actually miss my eclectic taste in the music department, do make it known to me, and I'll do my damndest to make sure a song gets into the next installment.


	9. Can you hear the violins playing?

Author's Notes- Here I am again, delaying the commencement of yet another chapter… But how could I not, after the plethora of pleasant reviews the last chapter received? Dearie dearie me, I was quite shocked. I had expected quite a few disappointed comments on (what I considered) the rather rushed and jerky content of the last chapter… Perhaps I judge myself to harshly? Then again, this was more than likely a one-time mistake on my part… or you readers overestimate my skill. I even received one review claiming that I was to be the future J.K. Rowling! (Quite flattering, I assure you, and worry not; I will refrain from killing off well-loved characters. Ahem.) And then, of course, I often think fondly back to that one particular review in which I was informed that I had converted a reader whose original intention was to flame me for my obvious affection for FredxGene. It brings a metaphorical tear to the eye. Yes, I'm quite aware at the lack of relevance here, but I simply had to bring such ego-boosting comments to light. I apologize profusely. Therefore, without (much) further ado, I give you chapter nine. (Nine already? Goodness…)

Disclaimer- … digs around in pockets Well, let's see… some change, a rather worn movie stub from "Hero", and a mint whose age is, at the moment, undetermined. Unless you can find some long-lost ties between any of these items and Outlaw Star, I'm afraid that I remain out of the club which owns said anime.

Warning- Again, I find myself unable to resist… Will we reach that ever-looming lemon THIS chapter? Or is that question in itself merely the harbinger of further frustration and delay? And, of course, there is that possibility that this serves only to spark the reader's interest… A shame that we live in such skeptical times.

Note- Again, since this chapter begins immediately after the end of the previous, I find it in the reader's best interest to repeat the last few lines. No need to thank me. … And you, yes you over there with the rotten fruit, do be kind and put it away, or I shall have to delay longer in light of your interruption.

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_"Now, get your hand off of me, or I swear I will forcibly remove your ability to create offspring."_

_"Big words, Luo. I'd like to see what a pansy-ass like you could do to back up that threat."_

"Oh? Well then, I'd hate to disappoint." Raising his knee, the navy-haired young man made an educated guess, and then kicked out backwards with as much strength as he could muster.

Feeling his foot connect with something soft, Fred heard the incredibly satisfying sound of a man who has just been painfully corrected. Kenneth's hand dropped from his shoulder as the over-muscled blonde collapsed, reduced to a rather pathetic crouching position, knees crossed and hands placed protectively over his groin. Fred grinned rather nefariously.

"I'm terribly sorry, but you _did_ ask for it, you know. Both literally and figuratively." And that was when he felt the fist connect with his back, sending him rather forcefully to the ground. In hindsight, he more than likely should have waited to gloat until all three men were hunched up and whimpering.

"That was low, asshole." The taller of the two sidekicks, as Fred had decided to call them, drew back his arm to deliver another blow, this time to the vocalist's stomach, but the navy-haired student had just enough time to roll to the side, and therefore managed to keep his intestines intact. The attacker grimaced as his fist connected with the hard wood of the stage floor, but ultimately did not have a great deal of time to dwell on the pain in said area.

Managing to stand, Fred moved quickly, delivering a sharp kick to his momentarily impeded foe, successfully sending him out of the realm of consciousness. But, of course, since there was absolutely no justice in the world, that forgotten third offender made himself forcefully known with a rather unpleasant blow that just happened to land on the side of Fred's skull.

"Oh… shit…" Having to make a serious effort to fight off the blackness that was threatening to overcome his mind, the vocalist felt himself collapse, wincing just slightly as his body slammed into the ground for the second time. A warm trickle ran down his cheek, but the vocalist didn't bother wasting valuable energy to wipe the blood away. Three-to-one was not a good ratio in a fight, it seemed.

A foot connected with his side, knocking the navy-haired student over on to his back. Fred grimaced as he was hauled up by his shirtfront, not really liking the direction in which this encounter was going. Brought face to face with his current attacker, he ran through his very limited list of options that might prove useful before that very threatening fist happened to connect with his face.

Well, old tricks always were the best ones, weren't they?

Managing to raise half of his mouth in a grin, Fred quickly brought his leg up, connecting the rather solid bone of his kneecap with his assailant's stomach. When he was dropped to the floor once again as his attacker collapsed, the navy-haired student wondered whether or not his plan had truly been wise. Now his left leg throbbed; he seemed to have landed on it in an interesting way. Although, in truth, it was certainly better than a broken nose, wasn't it?

Now, if only he could manage to stand again…

The combined pain in his left leg and the searing pain in his head that was still threatening to remove him from the land of consciousness was making the seemingly simple task incredibly difficult.

But the fact that a recovered, quite angered Kenneth was heading his way made it mandatory.

_Oh dear…_ Fred struggled, squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to block out the pain as he braced himself with both hands. He _had_ to stand, that was not an option. Unless, of course, he actually _wanted_ to see exactly what color his insides were. _Shit._

"Bet you think you're pretty tough, don't ya?" The vocalist found it quite disappointing that his attacker's voice wasn't a few octaves too high. Where was the justice? True, he had had ample time to recuperate from the blow to his genitals, but still… Life in general was being very unfair at the moment. "You took Peter out, I'll give you that…" Fred assumed this Peter character was the one lying on the ground a few yards away. "But you're sure as hell gonna regret it, you fucking jackass."

"I'd hardly call that appropriate language." The navy-haired student blinked once. Wonderful, instead of passing out, his cranial wound was making him hallucinate. There was no way that the owner of that particular voice could be here. "But hell, once I get a look at you, it certainly seems to fit." Fred didn't dare open his eyes, he knew that no one would be there, that this was his injured brain cells playing tricks on him. But then, why hadn't a fist been implanted in his face yet…?

"Who the hell are you?" Well, that was reassuring. At least Kenneth was hallucinating too. "His boyfriend or something?"

"You might say that." Fred risked opening his eyes. The comment was just too tempting. Turning his head slowly towards the sound of the new voice, he managed a small, relieved smile. "I'd ask you nicely to get away from him, but I have a feeling you won't listen. Luckily, I have no qualms about inflicting a few injuries today."

"You two are both full of talk, aren't ya?" In spite of the haughty comment, Fred saw Kenneth's fist clench. "Just try it, you red-headed pansy."

Gene grinned toothily, and the vocalist found it quite astounding that he hadn't grown fangs to accommodate such a threatening expression. "Don't mind if I do." In seconds, Gene had closed the distance between himself and Fred's attacker, aiming a punch towards the man's stomach.

There wasn't even a hitch in his rhythm as the redhead's blow was blocked. Obviously prepared for such a reaction, he made the fist he had in reserve painfully evident by planting it forcefully into Kenneth's face.

"Son of a bitch!" The burly blonde clutched at his face, trying to stem the flow of blood spurting from his mess of a nose. "You fucking broke by dose!" (1)

"Give me an excuse, you bastard, and I'll break a whole lot more." Gene rubbed his knuckles absently, eyes sharp and cold as he glared at the other man. He didn't seem to notice the as-of-yet unnamed crony lumbering up in as threatening a manner as he could muster.

Fred nonchalantly stuck out his foot at the right moment, sending the third man flying. Bad balance was a terrible thing to have, especially when the result was such a sickening thud. The vocalist, however, couldn't help but grin, wondering vaguely if it broke some sort of rule to be his savior's savior.

Watching his last henchman collapse in a crumpled heap, Kenneth began to re-think his strategy. He looked for a moment as though he meant to say something, but soon gave up on the idea and made a hasty retreat.

"Bastard." Gene glared in the direction the blonde had exited a moment longer before deciding that such a withering look would serve it's purpose better if the recipient were in the general vicinity. Sighing quietly, the redhead turned, kneeling down beside Fred, who had managed to sit up without causing the world to spin all that much. "Are you all right?"

"Well, more or less…" The vocalist smiled slightly, careful to keep the expression minimal, lest he irritate his head wound further. "I do think there's something wrong with my leg, but…" Well, when he thought about it, the limb's angle wasn't all _that_ odd. "I'll be fine."

"Shit…" The swear was quiet. Carefully, Gene touched his roommate's face, fingers coming away darkened with blood. "I should have gotten hear earlier…"

"Oh, you insult me." Fred considered laughing, but decided not to risk it. "In case you hadn't noticed, the two bodies on the ground are my doing, thank you very much." Th other man blinked once, then smiled softly in reply.

"I apologize." Reaching up to wipe away some blood that threatened to drip into Fred's eye, Gene shook his head slightly. "I underestimated your ass-kicking skill." The redhead rubbed his fingers together absently, dying them red while he kept his eyes locked with the vocalist's. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing I'm not used to…" Fred winced slightly at a new wave of pain, shifting his balance to bring one hand to his blood-dampened hair. "I've learned to protect myself over the years… It's just rather unfair when they gang up on me."

"Mm." Sliding one arm under the other man's shoulders, Gene began to stand slowly, allowing Fred to adjust to the position shift gradually so as not to exacerbate his rather ugly-looking head wound. "You've been attacked before…?" He kept the inquiry quiet, not wanting to push.

"Oh, yes." The navy-haired young man leaned the entirety of his weight against his roommate's shoulder, grateful that the redhead was strong enough to support him. "Not surprising. I am gay, after all, or hadn't you noticed…?" Gene shook his head slightly, amazed that the other could still tease while injured.

"That's… horrible." The guitarist began to walk, taking great care not to jostle Fred.

"I suppose… It got me to take self-defense classes as a child, though." Eyelids drooping, the vocalist rested his head against Gene's shoulder. "I'm bleeding on you."

"I don't mind."

They continued on in silence for a while, Gene not wanting to pry and Fred not feeling very up to conversation. However, soon, the redhead felt the other man shaking slightly. Worriedly, he glanced at his roommate's face, and was puzzled when he saw the smile on his face. "Fred…?"

"Oh, it's just…" The vocalist opened his eyes a little. "No one's ever saved me before."

Gene almost halted at the emotion behind those words. It amazed him how, suddenly, he realized that, if it was needed, he wanted to be the one there to save this man. It hurt him to see what had happened to his roommate, and, of course, it dragged him that much closer to admitting to himself that it was something more than mere 'like' that was clenching his chest so.

"… Ah." He really couldn't find anything else to say.

"Mmhmm…" Fred closed his eyes again, wondering if his sudden fatigue was due to his previous adrenaline rush or the blood that was slowly leaking away from his body.

Feeling the other man sag further, Gene paused in his trek. Carrying Fred this way was both uncomfortable and inefficient. But the only other way… Well, Fred wouldn't object, would he? … If he did, too bad.

The vocalist blinked as their slow but constant forward motion came to a stop. "Hmm…?" Before he realized what was happening, he was being shifted around until his chest was pressed up against Gene's back, the redhead wrapping both of the other man's arms around his neck from behind before hoisting his thighs up around his waist. Confusion now reigned supreme. "Gene…?" Incredulous, the navy-haired student attempted to look around into Gene's face.

"It's easier to carry you this way…" It seemed as if the redhead wanted to add on to the statement, but ultimately decided that what had been said was enough. Remaining still only a moment longer to fix his grip on Fred's legs, he once again began to walk towards their shared dorm-room.

"Oh…" Smiling slightly, Fred decided that even if he was injured, he was certainly going to enjoy this to it's full extent. It wasn't every day that he got a piggy-back ride from Gene, after all… Resting his chin against the other man's shoulder, the vocalist hummed his satisfaction at his current location. "You're so strong, Ge-ene…" His voice was quiet, but his roommate heard him clearly. "I'm taller than you, and you can still carry me…"

"Well, you are pretty thin." The redhead grunted slightly. "And I admit that my arms and back will be sore for a week or so… but this is still easier than just dragging you along."

"Mm, I see…" Fred considered pressing his lips to the other man's temple, but ultimately decided against it. Gene was quite easily startled, after all, and he certainly didn't want to add a bruised tail-bone to his list of injuries. Instead, he settle for rubbing his cheek gently against the soft strands of Gene's hair. "Such a sacrifice for me… I'm truly touched." Unknowingly (although that matter may be up for debate), the vocalist wrapped his legs tightly around the redhead's waist, taking no heed of the fact that the guitarist already held his lower body securely.

Gene jerked slightly, but managed to continue on without further incident.

"So I guess your leg's not broken, then." Fred exhaled quickly, his newly-discovered injured form of laughter.

"Guess not…" He moved his thigh, attempting to roll his hip, and not at all trying to rub against Gene in entirely inappropriate ways. That was just a nice bonus. It hurt, yes, but it wasn't the excruciating, sharp pain of a snapped bone. "… but I don't think it's entirely well either."

"Mm." Gene swallowed thickly, trying to ignore how certain parts of Fred's anatomy were pressing against him. "Well, I'll bandage up your head, and then take you to a doctor, all right?"

"Sounds lovely…" Turning his head, Fred laid the less-bloody side on Gene's shoulder, no longer even trying to keep his eyes open. "Mmmm…"

"Fred?" When he received no answer, the redhead felt the first touches of panic. "Fred?" The vocalist groaned softly, but otherwise remained silent. "Oh come on, you can't quit on me now…" Pausing, he jostled the other man as much as he dared, trying to rouse him.

"… hmm?" Fred managed to open one eye. "'m so sleepy, Ge-ene…"

"Yea, well, it's be convenient if you stayed awake." Relieved, Gene began to walk once more. "It's kinda hard to carry a sack of beans, you know."

"Mm, couldn't you have thought of… a nicer… metaphor for me?"

"No."

"Pity…"

Once more, there was a period of silence between the two men, broken only by Gene's occasional grunts as his muscles rebelled against the strain. He was quite happy to see the door to their shared dorm just ahead, even if his body's complaints had elevated from grumbling to shouting.

Managing to turn the doorknob quickly, Gene reached back to catch Fred's leg before kicking the door open. Not bothering to make sure it shut behind him, he turned around to set the navy-haired man down gently on his bed. Fred looked as though he was going to at least attempt to remain sitting up, but soon gave it up for a lost cause and managed to lay himself down slowly.

"Ah…" Opening bleary eyes to look down at the bedspread as Gene rummaged around for the first-aid kit, Fred frowned slightly. "I'm bloodying the sheets now."

"We can worry about that later." The vocalist smiled weakly when a loud clatter from the bathroom signaled that his roommate was losing the fight with the medicine cupboard. "Damnit, this thing is a fucking BOOBY trap…"

"Mmmm…" Sighing softly, Fred began to trace the bedspreads floral pattern lazily with his index finger. "…_They say the most horrible things… but I hear violins…_"

"What was that?" Gene emerged from the bathroom, sporting the small first-aid kit and mussed hair. "Didn't catch it…"

"Oh… nothing…" Fred felt blood running across his forehead, but didn't really have the energy to brush it away. "Just… a song…"

The redhead paused, then shook his head, smiling. "You're always singing, aren't you…" After pausing at the sink to wet a washcloth, he gingerly sat beside the other man, taking great care not to jostle him.

"Mmhmm…"

"… why don't you keep going?" Taking a damp washcloth from the top of the first-aid kit where he had set it, Gene began to dab at the dried blood on Fred's face. "I like your voice."

"So kind…" The vocalist inhaled slowly. ".. if you insist…" Wincing slightly as the washcloth pressed close to his wound, he continued. "_When I close my eyes… I am at the center of the sun…_" He paused again, humming softly as Gene's thumb brushed across his cheek. "_And I cannot be hurt… by anything this wicked world has done…_"

This time, he continued on, but his voice dropped so low that the redhead could not make out his words. When his voice came back into his hearing range, he was repeating what he had already sung. "_They break the most beautiful things… But I hear violins…_"

Gene continued to clean the blood from Fred's face, pressing as gently as he could for fear of hurting the other man further. He found himself being soothed by his roommate's soft voice, singing a song he had never heard before, and yet liked immediately, simply because it was Fred singing.

"_Young boy in the market… sees the girl alone… and asks her, 'Have you lost your way home…?'_" Fred's head rolled slightly as Gene applied a bit more pressure with the cloth. "_She sings… 'You say the most beautiful things… Just like my violins…'_"

The redhead paused his ministrations as he felt Fred's hand grasping lightly onto his free one. Biting his lip slightly, he returned the grip, sensing that his roommate's song choice was a bit more than what he had led on. "_When I close my eyes… I am at the center of the sun…And I cannot be hurt… by anything this wicked world has done…I look into your eyes, and I am at the center of the sun…_" Gene gave Fred's hand a final squeeze before releasing it to tie the bandage around the other man's head. The navy-haired student sighed softly, but didn't complain.

"_I hear… violins…_"

Running a hand gently over Fred's hair, it took Gene a moment to realize that he had finished. "That was nice…"

"Mm… one of my favorites…" Turning slightly, Fred managed to snuggle up to the redhead, burying his face in the other man's shirt. He said something else then, but the words were muffled.

"Hm?"

Fred pulled away slightly, looking up into azure eyes before repeating himself. "I love you, Gene."

The guitarist found himself unable to think of a response for that. "O-oh…" Coughing slightly, he tried to tear his gaze away but failed. "… Let's… let's get you to the doctor."

"Mm."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

(1)- No, those aren't typos. He speaking through a broken nose, remember?

Author's Notes- Hmm, nice way to end a chapter, wouldn't you say? Not a lemon, I admit, but considering, I think it's a nice alternative. …I can only guess how many people want to inflict harm upon my person for that particular opinion, dearie dearie me. Once more, I apologize for the delay… but such is life, yes? During the course of this chapter, I had finals (yech), stress, my typical Christ-less Christmas, and all of that loveliness. Consider this your New Year's present, hm?

Yes, I did manage to fit another song into this one, aren't you all so thrilled? This time it was Center of the Sun by Conjure One, quite a nice song if I do say so myself. A bit softer than my previous selections, but it fits rather nicely. Per usual, I recommend it for a listen… who knows, I might start a Conjure One cult to go with the Blind Melon cult spawned from the No Rain chapter. Goodness, I had no idea that my musical tastes had such sway over the general public.

Well, until the next chapter then, oh adoring fans.


	10. I know that you heard me

Author's Notes: Dearie dearie me, you'd all presumed me dead by now, eh? Well, here I am again, proving you all wrong in this brief instant that I actually DO update! Ah ha ha! How about THAT, HUH? HUH! …Hm, perhaps I _shouldn't _be updating, considering my mental state… Oh well, it's never seemed to throw you lot off before. I guess I'll continue anyway for your sakes. The things I do for my adoring public… You're all so very very lucky.

Warning: This far already and you STILL need a warning? Goodness gracious me, what WILL we do with you? In this chapter… let's see… Foul language, and, oh yes, boy smut, boy smut, and, hey, MORE BOY SMUT! MWA HA HA HA! (… see what I mean, about my mental state? Yeesh. I sacrifice my very sanity for you people.)

Disclaimer: It's quite simple, you lot: I don't own Outlaw Star, nor do I own any characters, ideas, or idiosyncrasies therein.

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The receptionist glanced up from her computer screen as she heard the main doors bang open. People usually had a bit more respect for the ER—or at least the glass doors—; this had to be something dramatic. Or someone, in any case.

As a matter of fact, it was a rather attractive, young, red-haired male who looked quite flustered. When the receptionist looked a bit closer, she could see dried blood coating his shirt, and a faint bruise coloring a patch of skin above his left eyebrow. "Excuse me, miss… do you have a wheel chair I could use?"

"Oh, yes, right over there…" The receptionist gestured behind her desk, where several such devices lay dormant. "Do you require assistance, sir?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine." Quickly, the young man maneuvered a wheel chair out of its alcove and towards the double doors leading to the parking lot. "I'll be right back." The receptionist blinked once as he dashed out into the night, intrigued in spite of her normally jaded nature.

She became even more so when the redhead returned, wheeling another (slightly battered) young man, instead of the girl she had expected. Males of such an age were not prone to worrying about injured colleagues, unless they had mammary glands. This was something... interesting.

Deciding to devote herself to their abnormal case, the receptionist had an answer waiting when the redhead returned to her desk. "Yes, we're in a bit of a lull right now, so a doctor should be with you any minute now. Please have a seat." The young man looked quite relieved.

Indeed, within moments, a nurse came into the waiting room to take the patient and his friend into the ER. The receptionist watched them go, chin resting on her hand. They might be worth watching.

However, the two young men were soon out of her line of sight, and she was forced to return to the monotonous work that awaited her in her computer. At least for a few moments. Voices carried wonderfully well in a sterilized building.

"Oh thank GOD!"

"Yes, Mr. Starwind, he'll be quite all right… Most of his cuts are minor, Band-Aids and some antibiotic should do the trick…his head needs a few stitches, but… My goodness, did you bandage this?"

"Yea… yea, I did."

"Not bad, for an amateur."

"Um… thanks?"

There was a brief, quiet chuckle.

"I thought you were injured." The voice was that of the redhead… Mr. Starwind, apparently. It wasn't exactly eavesdropping, what the receptionist was doing… anyone in the general vicinity could hear the conversation. Therefore, she had no qualms about again placing her attention on the dilemma of these curious young men.

"Now, is there anything else that seems to be bothering you, Mr.…?"

"Luo." This speaker was new; it had to be the wounded male in the wheel chair. "Fred Luo. Well… my leg… does seem to be a bit… off…" There was silence for a few moments; the receptionist assumed that the doctor was examining the latest complaint.

"Well, nothing serious seems to be out of line, Mr. Luo… Did you have a spill of some sort?"

"Yes, I… landed rather heavily on it."

"Ah, yes. It does seem to be quite bruised. Luckily for you, however, it's neither sprained nor broken. You might want to go easy on it for a while, however."

"But of course, doctor." The receptionist couldn't help but chuckle. It was quite impressive, to have a sense of humor while injured. Intriguing indeed.

"So, the stitches…?" That was the redhead again. "Does that mean… well, is it really bad?"

"Nothing of the sort. I'm just afraid the cut won't heal properly on its own if I don't help it along. No, no, there's no concussion, luckily. Other than a slight jarring and a nasty looking cut, his head is quite all right."

"I'm not sure, doctor." Fred Luo sounded much better than he had looked when he came in. "That all depends on whom you ask."

All three laughed at this.

"All right, let's see about those stitches…"

After that, they moved into another room, quite abruptly ending the receptionist's ability to listen in. Grumbling slightly, she once again returned to her computer.

However, when the two young men emerged from the ER (this time without the wheelchair—the one called Fred Luo seemed to be vociferously protesting being treated like an invalid, and the one called Mr. Starwind was reluctantly allowing him to walk on his own), she flashed them both a bright, cheery smile. "Have a nice night, gentlemen."

The redhead smiled in return, and the dark-haired man that was Fred Luo waved jauntily in her direction. As they exited, the receptionist couldn't help but notice that Mr. Starwind was holding Mr. Luo rather tightly around the waist, and that Mr. Luo had an arm draped rather possessively around Mr. Starwind's neck.

Ah, so that was it.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

It was cold. The fact couldn't be questioned; snow covered the ground outside, your breath formed a cloud in the air when you made the mistake of being out of doors long enough to breathe, and a few presumptuous icicles had even had the audacity to hang down arrogantly from the rain-gutters.

It was the time of year for layers upon layers of bedclothes, preferably with at least one goose-down comforter and a few sets of flannel sheets somewhere in the mix.

Unfortunately, such luxuries were quite out of the average college student's budget.

Gene shivered, curling into a fetal position under his covers. He wrapped icy cold arms around his legs, hoping to trap what little warmth he possessed and keep it within his now compressed form. The idea was sound; however, when actually put into practice, it didn't hold water.

Or body heat, actually.

In any event, the guitarist was quite cold. He was certain that specific parts of his anatomy were turning blue, and if they weren't, logic dictated that they should have been.

All in all, he wasn't having a pleasant time of things. And, considering that sleeping was one of his favorite past-times, this God-forsaken cold was adding insult to injury. He wondered bitterly if the weather systems were now against him as well. It really, really wouldn't have surprised him.

However, as he got bored with that train of thought, his mind began to wander in other directions… for example, what would happen if he just happened to meander over to Fred's bed and…?

No. Certainly not. He was stopping that little contemplation before it went any further. That was out of the question. No way in any number of hells. Not happening. He wasn't THAT desperate.

…Then again, it went beyond desperation, didn't it.

The redhead squirmed, partially due to the uncomfortable cold seeping into the very marrow of his bones, and partially due to the traitorous thoughts that had taken up lodging in his brain. If the change in climate wasn't against him, his mind most _certainly_ was. Stupid vital organs and their perfidious ways.

His brain wasn't backing down, though. Unknowingly, Gene found himself rolling over, letting only his eyes peep out of the blanket-cocoon he had created in order to keep warm. His gaze rested on Fred, silent and unmoving across the room. The other man's bandages were still on, but they never seemed to give him any problems, nor did the pain. A few days after his attack, the vocalist had seemed as good as new, save a few minor scars and other telltale marks. He looked, for lack of a better term, perfectly fine.

At the moment, he looked _very _warm.

The blush came unbidden, but Gene didn't notice it. It couldn't hurt, right? It was said, after all, that sharing body heat was one of the best ways to warm oneself. And in these conditions… Well, it certainly couldn't be healthy for the redhead to freeze to the point of incoherence, alone and frigid in his own bed.

And, of course, if he explained himself properly… Fred would behave, wouldn't he? There wasn't _really_ any risk of Gene waking up with a foreign hand down his…

The guitarist gave his head a sharp jerk. He wasn't quite sure what thoughts like that would lead to, and he most certainly didn't want to find out at this point in time. Right now, he was focused on warmth, and finding some way to heat his rapidly-heading-towards-numb body. It was instinct, after all, to seek out warmth, wasn't it?

_Just keep telling yourself that. _

He was going to have to admit it to himself sooner or later. He was going to have to admit….

Well. Sooner or later. Later sounded like a viable option.

The here and now… Well, still, it could wait. He might be creeping closer and closer to self-realization, but for now…

He could push it to the back of his mind, and simply… do what felt right.

Deciding, the redhead steeled himself for the shock of cold that would greet him once he left the protection of his covers. Oh, yes, he was quite chilled now, but THAT was under two layers of covering. He couldn't even fathom what would happen to him with nothing besides his rather sparse pajamas between him and the arctic air of the dorm.

Well, that was that.

He'd just have to take the covers with him.

Tugging at the blankets, Gene eventually yanked them out of the foot of the bed, where they were tucked. Attempting to wrap himself up so that all exposed skin was covered with blanket, and yet still in such a way that he was able to walk, the redhead slowly stood.

Unfortunately, his quest for warmth sufficient enough for his temporary mission had left his legs somewhat bound together. He'd have to hop over to Fred's bed.

So.

It was heat or dignity.

Easy enough decision.

Without a second thought, Gene began to bunny-hop over to his roommate's bed, executing this feat as silently as possible so that no angry neighbors would find a sudden, raging desire for the blood of a certain redheaded guitarist.

However, he was loud enough that he woke Fred during his little trek. So, when he reached the side of the vocalist's bed, dark eyes were peering up at him amusedly.

"A visit so very late at night?" His voice was sleepy, but full of good-humor. "My my, to what do I owe this special treat?" Gene attempted to scowl, but his rather chilly lips weren't cooperating. It was an effort to keep his teeth from chattering.

"Can't sleep."

"Oh?"

"It's cold."

"Oh, I see." Fred sat up slightly, inspecting the seemingly mummified Gene. Raising one navy eyebrow, he grinned. "And what am I supposed to do about this rather atrocious predicament you're in?"

"Er…" Gene hadn't thought this far along. How, exactly, was he supposed to go about this? He had thought that his roommate would just invite him into bed, not diverge into one of his teasing moods. This was certainly not something he wanted to deal with while he felt his body temperature slowly dropping below healthy levels. "Well, actually, I was thinking…" The redhead struggled with the words, somewhat embarrassed.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind… I mean, that is… would it be ok…"

Fred laughed.

"Well now, I'll be kind. Since it doesn't look like you're going to be spitting it out any time soon… And I certainly don't want you freezing to death…" The navy-haired young man pulled back his covers slightly, expression inviting. "Would you like to sleep with me?"

"Yes!" Without thinking (which was how, it has been discovered, that Gene executed most of his actions), the redhead all but dove into his roommate's bed, eager for the promise of warmth. Taking his blankets with him, he burrowed into Fred's warm bedclothes, almost sighing with relief as he felt his body begin to thaw. "Aahhhh…" The other man just laughed again, busying himself with rearranging Gene's blankets so that the bodies of the two students were pressed together.

It was then that Gene realized exactly what was going on.

"H-hey…" Still not fully recovered, the redhead found his voice slightly hampered by the cold. "I just want to sleep, ok? Nothing else." He gave Fred a look. "All right?"

"But of course." His roommate returned the look with an innocent smile. "I understand you perfectly, Ge-ene. However…" Gene didn't like the sound of that. "I think that some compensation is in order… I am, after all, warming you up." No, he didn't like the sound of that at _all_.

But the vocalist did have a point.

"… All right, what do you want?"

"Oh, you make it sound like such a chore!" Fred drew his eyebrows together in an expression of mock-grief. "It's not even that much, really, you make such a big deal out of things."

"You haven't told me what it _is_ yet."

"Oh, no, I haven't, have I?"

"No."

"Hm." The other man appeared to ponder this for a moment. "Well, it would take too long to ask you for it and then expect you to give it, and I desire my payment right now, so…" Without another word, he leaned forward, capturing Gene's chilly, slightly parted lips with his own warm ones.

He should have been expecting something like this. Really, he should have However, in spite of 'should have's', Gene merely found himself sitting (or lying, actually) still in shock as Fred kissed him. He then found that he had to admit that, just perhaps, he actually _liked_ being kissed by Fred…

By that time, though, his body had decided that already, and he was, finally, returning the kiss, parting his lips further when Fred's probing tongue requested it. His cold-muddled mind couldn't help but release a moan as the navy-haired student explored his mouth, and, though he tried to stop it, Gene whimpered softly as the other man pulled away. Wide cerulean eyes looked up into smiling dark ones.

"Mmm, that was very nice, Ge-ene." Fred grinned. "Very nice indeed…"

"Fred…"

"Oh, don't worry, I'll be a good boy and keep my word." Leaning forward, the taller man gently rubbed noses with the redhead. "I won't violate you in your sleep, I promise."

Gene grunted in response.

Chuckling, Fred pressed his lips gently against Gene's forehead. "Are you always this grumpy when your sleeping pattern is interrupted?"

"Maybe."

"Well." Shifting slightly, Fred rested his chin on top of Gene's pillow-mussed hair, arms wrapping loosely around the other man's torso. "Let's make sure you get your good night's sleep."

Gene tilted his head downward slightly, wide eyes staring as his palms pressed themselves against Fred's warm chest. "Mm…" He couldn't manage to continue the conversation further without risking a serious detriment to his mental health. Frozen brain cells, it seemed, were not the most efficient to be found.

However, there seemed to be one rebellious sect within him that simply had to be heard. Gene bit his bottom lip, trying to keep quiet. Sure, it would sound innocent enough, but he never did know how Fred would take things… Inhaling slowly, he waited, listening for the other man's breathing pattern to slow, indicating that he was asleep.

It happened sooner than he had expected, which would have seemed suspicious, had his brain cells been functioning properly. However, he now took it for face value.

Closing his eyes, Gene whispered the words he wasn't sure he wanted the other man to hear. "… Thank you, Fred." The statement itself held a great deal more than innocent gratitude, and on some level, the redhead knew that.

And that was enough for right now.

As he was drifting off, Gene felt lips curling against his hair in a smile, but wasn't quite conscious enough to register it.

"You're welcome, love."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Gene kept his eyes shut when he awoke, having no desire at all to move away from this delicious warmth he was currently enveloped in. Instead, he nuzzled a bit closer, sleepily hoping that his alarm was not set to go off soon. He was insanely comfortable in his current location, and saw no real reason to leave any time soon.

Luckily, his alarm remained silent. It was, after all, a Saturday morning.

Humming his contentment at having a good night's sleep, Gene curled up slightly against his anonymous source of warmth.

It took his brain a good five minutes to remember what it was, and another two to identify the sensation on his scalp as gentle fingers stroking through his hair. This was not enough, however, to knock him out of his morning reverie, and he opened his eyes with minimal apprehension.

Sure enough, he was looking at skin that was not his own.

Feeling that he should be somewhat disturbed by this, the redhead blinked twice. He eyed the lock of navy hair that had just fallen into his visual range critically, then reached out to touch it with questioning fingers.

He was quite, quite certain that he probably shouldn't have been feeling quite as comfortable as he was.

In spite of this, he risked looking up into the sparkling dark eyes he knew awaited him.

"Good morning, Ge-ene."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Author's Notes: Well well, was that intriguing enough for you? I figured that I should offer some fluff as an apology for the long delay… Although, using that logic, I'm afraid the next chapter will have to be quite steamy in compensation, ah ha ha… Yes, I have absolutely no confidence in my updating skills. It's quite ironic, too, considering how punctual I am in other matters… Well, you can't rush creativity.

I apologize again for not having a song in this chapter, there simply wasn't room for one. But, since I know you people live and die by my musical tastes (har)… I suppose that I can offer a suggestion. If you don't mind Romanian, you might want to listen to "Despre Tine" by O-Zone. However, if you simply must have English, "Unbroken (Hotel Baby)" by Monster Magnet is certainly worth a listen. And that, my friends, is this chapter's version of "Music with Sage."

See you all next time.


End file.
